Hey everyone, just wanted to give everyone an invitation to join my new site. I've been running Play-By-Post sites for awhile, though never with stats or the MSHG rules. I wanted to change that and give back to the community. I'm looking to run a site which will have an interactive world using MSHG stats and characters from Marvel and D.C.. The intentions, right now, are to have world locations for the characters to explore and interact with, Judge moderated missions both 'Solo' and 'Team' and 'Team' message boards for planning strategies against other teams and the Omniverse. I'll accept almost any character providing you demonstrate an understanding of the character (this is code for: you'll have to write an audition in character prior to being accepted. Cosmic entities are not being accepted at this time, but I'm hoping as the membership grows players will be allowed to step into these lofty shoes and govern the cosmos. Heroes and villains are acceptable. I'm also looking for people who are willing to assist as Judges as well (from rulings to actually running missions, depending on your time and interest). I'm not a powergamer, so it means I actually look forward to working with people to run a decent roleplaying site and not having lackeys (not that having lackeys are bad...).

Characters are first come, first served...

http://mshg.proboards.com/index.cgi

Input and discussion is welcomed.

Color me interested. Might be interested in helping Judge as well. I was running the Earth-8603 setting, but I'm in post-fizzle recovery, heh.

Do you want interested players to post the character they want to play and write the audition post on the forum there, or is that handled behind the scenes via e-mail?

I'd like everyone interested to write on the boards. That way we've a chronological set of message strings of who requested (and got approved for) who. There (hope for hope's sake) should be less hard feelings if two people were to email me at the same time for the same character behind the scenes. With all the characters available, it (more than likely) should never come up, but on that one, slim, chance... we'll have two posted requests that are handled on a 'first-come, first-serve' basis in plain view on the forum.

Thankyou for showing interest, though. As players and judges join, it will be easier to figure out a fictional timeline and current events. I've a few ideas in mind already, but would like them to develop collaboratively with input from the community. I'm more of an eighties, comic-fan (as well as perfering Marvel) but look forward to working and interacting (in character and as a judge) with players who have different tastes (as far as era and company).

(Wow, good thing I don't pay money for each unnecessary comma!)

Hey I registered, and posted a Character (Lobo). How long before we can start posting campaigns?

I promise to check it out. I can't promise I'll be able to play. But I'd love to follow the game.

Thanks Darabka, I'm hoping to have a few more players before we begin. I appreciate the offer Aramanthus, hopefully you'll be able to play. With how I've set up the site, I'm hoping that it works well for different players with different posting habits. Not everyone needs to post twenty times a day (I know I won't be able to...), but posting when able should be key. Also, I hope that the board develops into more of a roleplaying site and not just a dice-roller. Not every encounter needs to have dice broke out and should be able to happen just by roleplaying it out. The missions will be abit more system orientated, but hanging out in the world should be largely diceless. Atleast I hope, lol. Dead Sidekick, wow... I've read most of your campaigns and I'm impressed with the detail. I hope you've time to join as well... even so I can just bounce ideas off of your head, lol. So far we've three characters... Magneto (who I'm going to play), Lobo and Thanos. Hopefully there will be a few 'heroes' to balance these three or my setting will be getting and overdose of death and carnage. Not that death and carnage are bad things, gentlemen... heh heh. I'll post the setting I've chosen in the next post... open to feedback. Also, I think alot of players may copy and paste statistics from different sites (especially this one), is there any advice as to how I can go about asking permission for my players to do so. Don't want to offend anyone by stealing their hard work...

Setting
(In Development)

In this setting, the universe is largely the same as our's. Same events, same leaders and same history. There are no superpowered individuals.

However, the universe is quite large (no... really?) and besides the setting of Earth, and our solar system, there are beings that would beggar description and comprehension. One of these beings is Uatu, the Watcher, who has been watching our solar system almost since the dawn of creation. Uatu, like his comic counterpart, has a base on the moon and spends his time watching. Another being is Galactus, the World Devourer, who, like his comic-counterpart travels from planet to planet devouring to feed his hunger. Like Marvel's Galactus, this one has a herald... the Silver Surfer, who saved his planet by offering to serve the Devourer.

The Silver Surfer has discovered Earth and is now leading Galactus across the cosmos, here. Thankfully, there's an abundance of planets along the way to entice Galactus into devouring. We've just about enough time to prepare for our fate... that is if we actually knew he was coming.

One group of individuals does know. Leaders of science and technology, they call themselves the Knights of the Atomic Age. Brilliant scientists, they've pooled their talents and knowledge to build a space shuttle and intended to place their own satellite high above the world.

To this end, they chose a crew. Enter Dr. Reed Richards (one of the Knights of the Atomic Age), Dr. Susan Richards (Reed's wife), Johnny Storm (Susan's brother) and Ben Grimm (Reed's best friend and pilot).

The crew managed to launch the satellite in space flawlessly, but unbeknown to them, they orbited into the Silver Surfer's beacon for his master. The shuttle malfunctioned and crashed to the Earth, just as it did in the comics. Due to the miraculous piloting of Ben Grimm, they managed to survive AND discover that they had changed on the cellular level into what we would recognize as the Fantastic Four.

With the satellite launched, the Knights of the Atomic Age (Anthony Stark, Victor Von Doom, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor) worked toward testing the quartets new powers and scanning the universe for theorized phenomena.

As they scanned, they realized that something was approaching Earth and disrupting cosmic gravities almost as if worlds were being destroyed. There was no doubt, it was approaching and it was destroying worlds.

The Knights decided to explore the phenomena of the quartet getting powers and launched a station to orbit near the satellite. To avoid being changed further, the station was unmanned. They built a energy collector to try and store the unique energies and send them down to earth into large containment vessels. The intent was to possibly use this energy against the approaching danger.

Just as they were activating the 'collector', Uatu inadvertently and quite accidentally (as he explained to his colleagues, later) sent an alternate dimensional beacon into the same location to boost the signal of his dimensional viewers. As the 'collector' activated, it brought down energy into the containers...

But the containers did not hold. For as the Knights watched in horror, the energy coalesced into a physical being. This being who identified himself as one, Magneto, threw down the walls of 'Container 12' and stepped forth to demand explanation.

If not for the Quartet, Magneto would have humbled them all with his strange electromagnetic powers. As it was, all the Quartet could do was chase the self-pronounced 'Master of Magnetism' away.

The 'Collector' was abandoned, deemed too dangerous. They already had enough problems with the approaching 'World Devourer", adding strange and powerful beings against their will to the Earth hardly seemed wise. The project was shut down and everyone focused on dealing with the approaching danger on their own.

Dr. Bruce Banner accepted a job with the military in their Gamma Energies project. After a few months, he went missing after an accidental discharge of gamma energies.

Dr. Hank Pym began working on his Pym particle theories hoping to find a way to hide the Earth by shrinking it.

Dr. Bruce Wayne returned to his home city (we'll call it Gotham) and returned to his parties, intending to live life to it's fullest.

Dr. Lex Luthor returned to his study of strange asteroid rocks, hoping to harness their internal energies and radiation.

Unbeknown to the other Knights, both Victor Von Doom and Tony Stark returned to their individual labs and began experimenting with the 'Collector' once again, refusing to abandon the technology. To better control the energies (and characters that appeared from such energy), both men filtered the collection process by using their own brain waves as a template, hoping to collect individuals with similar personalities and demeanor.

At almost the same time, both men activate the 'Collector', hoping for better success than before...

I'd be happy to take the blunt force trauma of a bounced idea.

You've got a pretty ambitious vision for a whole gaming universe. That's really cool, but pace yourself. Everything doesn't have to be put together all at once.

In your game I was sorta considering applying to play Batman, but I'm skeptical about Bruce Wayne sharing anything with Tony Stark except perhaps commonalities in their supermodel dating. I don't see the way I'd play Bruce / Bats fitting in with your storyline.

I'm going to apply to play some character. just not sure who yet.

With the characters I've already introduced, I've been considering what would happen if someone wanted to play one of them. I've given the 'Collector' setting to allow different characters entry into the setting, but what if a Batman character joined through the collection process? I think I'd like to see the new Batman (or Stark or Doom) superceed the settings version. Good guys 'beam' into Stark's lab...bad guys enter the setting in Doom's lab. A Batman freshly collected is going to be a bit upset that he's been taken against his will and obviously Stark would not know it's Bruce Wayne. As your Batman entered the setting, the Bruce Wayne of this setting would effectively be erased. Your Batman could leave the lab after trouncing a very normal Tony Stark (a man who he's never met before) and going to investigate the world. Gotham would be up to their eyes in crime and he'd find his home, Wayne Manor and everything there except for his Batcave and toys. It might be interesting to have Batman try and rebuild in this new world once he figures out there's no return.

I read your post, Dead Sidekick... then I posted, then I re-read your post, lol. You're right. I do want a combined universe and it is rather large in scope. Perhaps by putting in a setting (as I did) it limits the whole thing. Perhaps there's no need for a setting other than a world that has both D.C. and Marvel characters... a blend of both comics. That way Daredevil can be fighting criminals in Hell's Kitchen, just as Lobo clears a bar on a Space trucker platform. There's no need for characters to be connected (as they would be if they were collected). If players want connection then they can make similar characters and join existing teams (providing there's other characters to make a team with). What are your guys thoughts?

TasK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I read your post, Dead Sidekick... then I posted,
> then I re-read your post, lol. You're right. I
> do want a combined universe and it is rather large
> in scope. Perhaps by putting in a setting (as I
> did) it limits the whole thing. Perhaps there's
> no need for a setting other than a world that has
> both D.C. and Marvel characters... a blend of both
> comics. That way Daredevil can be fighting
> criminals in Hell's Kitchen, just as Lobo clears a
> bar on a Space trucker platform. There's no need
> for characters to be connected (as they would be
> if they were collected). If players want
> connection then they can make similar characters
> and join existing teams (providing there's other
> characters to make a team with). What are your
> guys thoughts?

Hmmmm, so less a combined universe and more one where counterparts to existing comic characters get yanked in possibly replacing existing beings that qualify as counterparts as well as the possibility of other counterparts gaining powers similar to their comic versions. So you end up with a scattering of super-humans on a world without a history of superbeings while they clearly remember worlds where that's not so.

Yes, exactly. That was the original intention with the setting I introduced. That way it didn't matter if there was only ten characters. Also, it didn't matter what version of character you wanted to play or what history they know. You could have a Captain America show up who knows nothing but WWII and the Invaders who's clueless to anything Avenger related. You could have a Batman who's ancient and in a wheelchair be collected and superimpose himself onto a younger Bruce Wayne, so you'd have a Batman with 60 years experience in a young man's body. What would a Batman do if he could rebuild from scratch? Would he try and build a Justice League or would he remain solo and dedicated to Gotham? Maybe a Batman would join with the Avengers (who I think are a bit darker than the Justice League) and Captain America might be one to form the Justice League with Superman and Wonder Woman... Half the story would/could be about what could these heroes and/or villains do if they were allowed a chance to start over? In a world without mutants, what would Magneto do? What if a few X-Men came into the setting? Would Magneto put aside his issues with the Xavier camp and actively protect them? Exploring what makes different characters heroes or villains would be kind of cool.

If people aren't too keen with the 'Collector' setting (I keep waiting for an Elder of the Universe to jump out and slap me with a lawsuit) then I was going to use one of my intended Global Missions as the new setting. One of the global missions I want to do is a rewrite of the Marvel Zombies saga, only this time it would be a bit more paced out and hopefully make more sense as to the characters who fell to the virus. Spiderman fought off the effects of the virus for a short while, how did it manage to effect Wolverine? Or the Hulk for that matter? In a Marvel/D.C. universe who's going to infect Superman? For that matter, how the heck did they manage to get the Sentry? Great, now I'll have to reread the series again just to answer my own questions, lol. I intend to gradually ramp up the virus until it effects the whole world (unless characters manage to stop it in it's tracks). Also, there will be a few twists along the way, but I won't get into them here. Just like Marvel Zombies though, Galactus IS on the way.

I could keep the original setting... or, I could have a setting where everyone Marvel and D.C. resides but with a 'Dawn of the Dead' flavor. Any thoughts on this or questions or feedback are welcomed.

Though my Earth-8603 game (currently on hiatus) never got so far as to see Marvel and DC characters interacting together as if they had existed side-by-side on the same world all along, I do have a "timeline history" for the setting that puts the first appearance of Superman and the Fantastic Four "15 years ago" (from 2008) and through the magic of a sliding time scale formula the Beyonder's Secret War and the Crisis on Infinite Earths are interrelated and occuring in game year "2001" so that eventually "post-Crisis" storylines that appeared in Marvel and DC circa 1986 were going to start popping up.

I planned for epic proportions... now I have a few megs of scattered secret game notes to refer to when my game starts up again, heh.

But, being on the other side of doing all that unapplied research and notetaking.... your idea of doing a sort of "Year One / Heroes Reborn" approach to superhero appearances on a world that never had them before does have an appeal of its own. At least until Dr. Doom figures out the universe is inside Franklin Richards' ball.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2009 10:22PM by Dead Sidekick.

Dead Sidekick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Though my Earth-8603 game (currently on hiatus)
> never got so far as to see Marvel and DC
> characters interacting together as if they had
> existed side-by-side on the same world all along,
> I do have a "timeline history" for the setting
> that puts the first appearance of Superman and the
> Fantastic Four "15 years ago" (from 2008) and
> through the magic of a sliding time scale formula
> the Beyonder's Secret War and the Crisis on
> Infinite Earths are interrelated and occuring in
> game year "2001" so that eventually "post-Crisis"
> storylines that appeared in Marvel and DC circa
> 1986 were going to start popping up.
>
> I planned for epic proportions... now I have a few
> megs of scattered secret game notes to refer to
> when my game starts up again, heh.

I was disappointed when everyone seemed to just 'forget' the game, I'd been enjoying getting the play time in on Perceptor, even if it was quite the test of my creativity trying to write for one of the most difficult character types imaginable.

> But, being on the other side of doing all that
> unapplied research and notetaking.... your idea of
> doing a sort of "Year One / Heroes Reborn"
> approach to superhero appearances on a world that
> never had them before does have an appeal of its
> own. At least until Dr. Doom figures out the
> universe is inside Franklin Richards' ball.

*chuckles* I wonder if that was a St. Elsewhere nod or just a coincidence, given how they sadly ended the series to prevent any kind of reunion shows.

Nightmask Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dead Sidekick Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Though my Earth-8603 game (currently on hiatus)
> > never got so far as to see Marvel and DC
> > characters interacting together as if they had
> > existed side-by-side on the same world all
> along,
> > I do have a "timeline history" for the setting
> > that puts the first appearance of Superman and
> the
> > Fantastic Four "15 years ago" (from 2008) and
> > through the magic of a sliding time scale
> formula
> > the Beyonder's Secret War and the Crisis on
> > Infinite Earths are interrelated and occuring
> in
> > game year "2001" so that eventually
> "post-Crisis"
> > storylines that appeared in Marvel and DC circa
> > 1986 were going to start popping up.
> >
> > I planned for epic proportions... now I have a
> few
> > megs of scattered secret game notes to refer to
> > when my game starts up again, heh.
>
> I was disappointed when everyone seemed to just
> 'forget' the game, I'd been enjoying getting the
> play time in on Perceptor, even if it was quite
> the test of my creativity trying to write for one
> of the most difficult character types imaginable.

Well, I think "real life" took a dump on everybody back in May, myself included. With the death of a friend of mine and being laid off from my job and scrambling for a new place to live and every other proof of Murphy's Law that happened I *know* my own presentation quality dropped - I would have liked to have had more time to make the maps and such and keep the story flowing, so I willing to eat blame for people losing interest. It happens. Next time will be better.


> > But, being on the other side of doing all that
> > unapplied research and notetaking.... your idea
> of
> > doing a sort of "Year One / Heroes Reborn"
> > approach to superhero appearances on a world
> that
> > never had them before does have an appeal of
> its
> > own. At least until Dr. Doom figures out the
> > universe is inside Franklin Richards' ball.
>
> *chuckles* I wonder if that was a St. Elsewhere
> nod or just a coincidence, given how they sadly
> ended the series to prevent any kind of reunion
> shows.

Good ol' Tommy Westphall

Anyway, I think TasK is on to something here with a "re-imagine your hero" type game. The more I think about it, the more I'm having difficulty deciding which hero or villian I'd like to re-imagine.

I actually played on a chat RPG, where Marvel, DC, Doctor Who and some other Universes were combined. It worked really well but is on complete hiatus for a year, since one of the Storytellers left the game. Marvel and DC mesh well, the Whole Marvel DC/Amalgam Crossover proved that. They were inspiring and emulating each other, but still keeping their style.

I am trying to to do something simular, but by keeping worlds separate, but allowing world traveling. I say have a Marvel DC fused world, OR allow Dimensional Travel.

Also I agree, not everything must be solved by the dice, good roleplaying is also great and should be encouraged. But I dont want to see another typical freeform Forum RPG. There are too many already.

That's cool, Darabka. Sounds interesting. I agree with you on the 'too many freeform sites' but at the same time, I didn't want to alienate anyone who wasn't confident with actually playing the game. I'd like a site where new players are free to mingle with experienced. They'd be allowed to see the rules and mechanics in action instead of just discussing the rules or statistics of their favorite character. Besides, I've been in several sessions (pen and paper, though) where the dice did nothing but collect dust. The last time I ran an actual dice/mechanics site, it was an arena site where all the Marvel and D.C. characters were participants in a grand, cosmic UFC. It went good for awhile and then largely lost it's flavor with the lack of roleplaying and many players who enjoyed the challenge of playing low-stat characters got tired of acting intimidated and scared around more powerful characters. Gotta have roleplaying .

Dead Sidekick, it's funny you mentioned 'Heroes Reborn'. That was my original setting idea to have Franklin create a world for his parents to go to, but one in which his favorite D.C. characters lived in as well. I got the idea from the Superman/F.F. crossover where Franklin had Superman's poster on the wall, lol. As to your Timeline and blending of histories.... yes, I've already read it and frankly my confidence went from hero to zero in ten minutes. It's an incredible piece and I was truly amazed (and horrified at the same time). I know I couldn't come up with something so well thought out. I will get you to be a judge... I must!

If anyone's interested, I've added the 'Quartet' to the MSHG page for reference. They are actually the F.F. I created for a setting where our Judge forced us to re-imagine the heroes we'd like to play. During the space accident, Reed's mind was racing and he felt helpless, knowing he needed to be everywhere at once. Susan, just like cannon wanted to simply hide and yet still wanted to somehow protect her loved ones. Grimm struggled mightily with the controls as he did his best to hold the ship together. And Johnny... well Johhny's always been a 'bundle of energy' and I always had a problem with the F.F.s elemental powers from space. "Hi, I went to space and all I've got to show for it is nifty flame powers..." Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed the character and his powers... it's just that getting flame powers in space never made much sense (yes, I know there were fires in the cabin of the shuttle). It would have been cooler if he had developed solar flame powers that are uneffected by the lack of air or something more stellar (If you'll pardon the poor attempt at a pun). Anyway they are there for reference.

http://www.mshg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=characters&action=display&thread=13

I've also been testing the percentage abit by randomly generating a character. It seems to work okay, though hopefully players won't look to exploit it.

http://www.mshg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=characters&action=display&thread=14

Nightmask, tell me what I've got to do to get you to join the site, lol. It sounds like you enjoy the challenge of roleplaying.

Further exploration/ questions/ feedback welcome! Thanks guys!

I am new to the forum and have never played RPG online before, so I am not sure how all of this works. I was an avid AD&D and MSH player in my teens many years ago and have recenlty rediscovered them. I would be interested in finding a way to play MSH but I am not sure how it works with the Message Boards. Could anyone give me some advice or help on how to get involved in a game and learn to use the online format? Thanks

I would be happy to help you get used to the messageboard MSH. Just make sure you let me know who you are when you join. Normally, I'd ask you to register with the name of the character you would like to roleplay (from Marvel and D.C.). I could probably run a mission to get your online feet wet.

That would be great! Do I need to register at your website that you posted in the beginning of this message board?

Yes. The missions and roleplaying will be done there.... err, for my setting anyway. There's other cool settings here besides mine... not that mine's cool... well I want it to be cool... but...erm.. Yes, register there.

I applied under dark phoenix and used Storm as my character. From here is where I will need your help and thank you.

TasK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's cool, Darabka. Sounds interesting. I
> agree with you on the 'too many freeform sites'
> but at the same time, I didn't want to alienate
> anyone who wasn't confident with actually playing
> the game. I'd like a site where new players are
> free to mingle with experienced. They'd be
> allowed to see the rules and mechanics in action
> instead of just discussing the rules or statistics
> of their favorite character. Besides, I've been
> in several sessions (pen and paper, though) where
> the dice did nothing but collect dust. The last
> time I ran an actual dice/mechanics site, it was
> an arena site where all the Marvel and D.C.
> characters were participants in a grand, cosmic
> UFC. It went good for awhile and then largely
> lost it's flavor with the lack of roleplaying and
> many players who enjoyed the challenge of playing
> low-stat characters got tired of acting
> intimidated and scared around more powerful
> characters. Gotta have roleplaying .
>
> Dead Sidekick, it's funny you mentioned 'Heroes
> Reborn'. That was my original setting idea to
> have Franklin create a world for his parents to go
> to, but one in which his favorite D.C. characters
> lived in as well. I got the idea from the
> Superman/F.F. crossover where Franklin had
> Superman's poster on the wall, lol. As to your
> Timeline and blending of histories.... yes, I've
> already read it and frankly my confidence went
> from hero to zero in ten minutes. It's an
> incredible piece and I was truly amazed (and
> horrified at the same time). I know I couldn't
> come up with something so well thought out. I
> will get you to be a judge... I must!
>
> If anyone's interested, I've added the 'Quartet'
> to the MSHG page for reference. They are actually
> the F.F. I created for a setting where our Judge
> forced us to re-imagine the heroes we'd like to
> play. During the space accident, Reed's mind was
> racing and he felt helpless, knowing he needed to
> be everywhere at once. Susan, just like cannon
> wanted to simply hide and yet still wanted to
> somehow protect her loved ones. Grimm struggled
> mightily with the controls as he did his best to
> hold the ship together. And Johnny... well
> Johhny's always been a 'bundle of energy' and I
> always had a problem with the F.F.s elemental
> powers from space. "Hi, I went to space and all
> I've got to show for it is nifty flame powers..."
> Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed the
> character and his powers... it's just that getting
> flame powers in space never made much sense (yes,
> I know there were fires in the cabin of the
> shuttle). It would have been cooler if he had
> developed solar flame powers that are uneffected
> by the lack of air or something more stellar (If
> you'll pardon the poor attempt at a pun). Anyway
> they are there for reference.
>
> [www.mshg.proboards.com]
> acters&action=display&thread=13

Interesting characterizations, although I think Osmium is denser and would provide another CS of protection for the Thing counterpart. In regards to Johnny's powers well do remember the time period that they came out in, the entire team existed in an era where the Thing's Remarkable strength (his max press was 5 tons back then) was astounding, as were everyone else's powers. Today after decades of development and growth and increased expectations for heroes and villains their original starting powers aren't seen as so impressive so new iterations have to start off considerably more powerful to meet those expectations.

> I've also been testing the percentage abit by
> randomly generating a character. It seems to work
> okay, though hopefully players won't look to
> exploit it.
>
> [www.mshg.proboards.com]
> acters&action=display&thread=14
>
> Nightmask, tell me what I've got to do to get you
> to join the site, lol. It sounds like you enjoy
> the challenge of roleplaying.
>
> Further exploration/ questions/ feedback welcome!
> Thanks guys!

*chuckles* Oh I love role-playing, but I've been needing to get my mojo back. As you might have noticed with the talk with DS and his game's collapse (or going into hibernation depending on how you view things) I've been needing to get my energy back to RP regularly. Also I tend to prefer my creations over running existing characters, avoids that 'but he/she/it wouldn't do that' argument you can run into at times.

TasK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Dead Sidekick, it's funny you mentioned 'Heroes
> Reborn'. That was my original setting idea to
> have Franklin create a world for his parents to go
> to, but one in which his favorite D.C. characters
> lived in as well. I got the idea from the
> Superman/F.F. crossover where Franklin had
> Superman's poster on the wall, lol. As to your
> Timeline and blending of histories.... yes, I've
> already read it and frankly my confidence went
> from hero to zero in ten minutes. It's an
> incredible piece and I was truly amazed (and
> horrified at the same time). I know I couldn't
> come up with something so well thought out. I
> will get you to be a judge... I must!
>

Heh. You're dropping a big hint on my foot!

I like Judging / running adventures and the opportunity it provides to play bad guys that pull off devious and treacherous society-appalling acts of pure evil (and don't we all?) but I'm really looking for some player character time. Still, I don't mind helping out if you wanted to collaborate on something or try to figure out how a Marvel-specific and DC-specific interpretations of concepts or world histories could exist side by side (like Avengers were off in space with the Kree-Skrull War while the JLA was defending Earth from the Dominators invasion, for example.)

Anyway, I'm willing to help if you'd like. Drop me an email at earth8603@yahoo.com

Thanks Dead Sidekick, I appreciate the offer!

Quote
Nightmask
*chuckles* Oh I love role-playing, but I've been needing to get my mojo back. As you might have noticed with the talk with DS and his game's collapse (or going into hibernation depending on how you view things) I've been needing to get my energy back to RP regularly. Also I tend to prefer my creations over running existing characters, avoids that 'but he/she/it wouldn't do that' argument you can run into at times.

I'm allowing 'Created Characters', providing they are part of an organization called the Paladin Institute. Hope this entices you a bit!

Information about the Paladin Institute...

Paladin Files

And here are some rules (dodges the tomatoes~) for creating a Paladin Institute character...

Homegrown Characters

I have a couple of questions.

1) Could you update the setting here? From reading a little bit around your site, it looks like the "collectors" idea has been dropped to go with a bigger Marvel/DC crossover. However, I find it really confusing what the setting is to be honest.
,
2) On your created characters thread, you talk about extra creation points as long as the character follows one of the approved themes (as well as stating characters will not be approved if they don't follow a theme).
*Now that the collectors setting is gone, does the paladin institute even apply anymore?
*Is there a list of what abilities fit in a theme or don't fit in a theme? (eg a sound theme character generating forcefields by using sound to agitate molecules in the air to specific frequencies?)
*Is it pretty much whatever you can justify in a theme? (eg. Adding flight, body armor, or light generation to a fire theme character?)
*Is it just powers that directly use the theme? (Fire characters can ONLY have fire generation, fire manipulation, and fire resistance?)
*Is there a limitation on whether these characters are mutants? High Tech? Magic Users? Etc?

Hey Memphis,
Thanks for the questions and the feedback. With the brainstorming and incredible help from Dead Sidekick, I've completely forgotten to update the information, here. I've dropped the 'collector' setting in favor of going with a 'more-open' setting, allowing a wider range of characters without having to reimagine them and how they got there. With DS's assistance, I'm slowely understanding the importance of both a strong timeline and workable continuity, so I've been reading a ton of back-issues trying to prepare the site fully. Frankly, the information there would confuse the Watcher and I apologize. I will get it sorted out soon.
The Paladin Files is still open for characters. The themes are fairly flexible as long as they fall within reason. The theme is how your character is defined and looked at at the Institute. Powers should only be selected which fit the theme, but as long as the player can justify them, I'll be willing to try and make it work. All the characters for the Paladin Institute are mutants (induced mutants).
Additionally, you'll be able to create characters using the same system from Dead Sidekick's last campaign. These characters will not be part of the Paladin Files, but they will be allowed to interact in the setting's multiverse (and join teams and go on missions). I'll check with Dead Sidekick, first, but I think he'd be open to allowing Homegrowns into his 'Outsiders' mission/campaign if anyone's interested.
I'll spend some time this morning and try and get the information, on the site, up to speed with the awesome changes Dead Sidekick is helping me with. With what I've seen so far, I'm pretty pumped.
Thanks for the feedback and questions. Much appreciated!




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2009 05:21AM by TasK.

TasK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Memphis,
> Thanks for the questions and the feedback. With
> the brainstorming and incredible help from Dead
> Sidekick, I've completely forgotten to update the
> information, here. I've dropped the 'collector'
> setting in favor of going with a 'more-open'
> setting, allowing a wider range of characters
> without having to reimagine them and how they got
> there. With DS's assistance, I'm slowely
> understanding the importance of both a strong
> timeline and workable continuity, so I've been
> reading a ton of back-issues trying to prepare the
> site fully. Frankly, the information there would
> confuse the Watcher and I apologize. I will get
> it sorted out soon.
> The Paladin Files is still open for characters.
> The themes are fairly flexible as long as they
> fall within reason. The theme is how your
> character is defined and looked at at the
> Institute. Powers should only be selected which
> fit the theme, but as long as the player can
> justify them, I'll be willing to try and make it
> work. All the characters for the Paladin
> Institute are mutants (induced mutants).
> Additionally, you'll be able to create characters
> using the same system from Dead Sidekick's last
> campaign. These characters will not be part of
> the Paladin Files, but they will be allowed to
> interact in the setting's multiverse (and join
> teams and go on missions). I'll check with Dead
> Sidekick, first, but I think he'd be open to
> allowing Homegrowns into his 'Outsiders'
> mission/campaign if anyone's interested.
> I'll spend some time this morning and try and
> get the information, on the site, up to speed with
> the awesome changes Dead Sidekick is helping me
> with. With what I've seen so far, I'm pretty
> pumped.
> Thanks for the feedback and questions. Much
> appreciated!

I'll just add here that there are unused elements from my "Earth-8603" setting going into my collaboration with TasK, but the world we're building isn't THE Earth-8603 setting, although it "could be" as the events / timeline setting of the "TasKverse" game happen roughly "one game year" before the Secret Wars / Crisis on Infinite Earths hybrid I was heading into with my Earth-8603 game would have happened.

The "collector" storyline TasK was going with hasn't been dumped so much as altered into an ongoing adventure that will feed back into the storyline I'm running with characters that weren't "collected."

As far as timeline setting and my Outsiders idea, Batman has NOT formed the Outsiders yet, and Xavier has NOT started the New Mutants class yet.

I'd like players to sign on to play established Marvel and / or DC characters. On original character creation, I'm open to scrapping the point-system based creation rules I used in E-8603, as long as we're not swamped with mega-munchkins as starting characters.

Just make a character and let's play, yo?

Dead Sidekick Wrote:
> Just make a character and let's play, yo?

Still deciding on whether to commit to this or not. I think I'll only have time to get into one game at most, and deciding if this is the right one or if I should wait for something else to come along. I see combined DC/Marvel as a negative vs straight Marvel (that's for me personally, not a commentary on DC or other's preference to combine the two). I'm trying to decide if I like the idea of a home grown character vs an established character. One advantage to me, is the continuity being set backwards to the mid-80's, as I know pretty much nothing of the last 10-15 years of Marvel, and nothing at all of DC timelines.

Secret Wars had some appeal to me, since it greatly limits the scope of the campaign into something easier to follow and understand. Not sure if I am ready to commit learning a new homegrown timeline and universe yet.

Memphis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dead Sidekick Wrote:
> > Just make a character and let's play, yo?
>
> Still deciding on whether to commit to this or
> not. I think I'll only have time to get into one
> game at most, and deciding if this is the right
> one or if I should wait for something else to come
> along. I see combined DC/Marvel as a negative vs
> straight Marvel (that's for me personally, not a
> commentary on DC or other's preference to combine
> the two). I'm trying to decide if I like the idea
> of a home grown character vs an established
> character. One advantage to me, is the continuity
> being set backwards to the mid-80's, as I know
> pretty much nothing of the last 10-15 years of
> Marvel, and nothing at all of DC timelines.

That's okay. Events in Marvel and events in DC happened in the same timeline of our game universe with only cosmetic interactions between forces. History as a Marvel character or a DC character is largely just as it passed in their seperate universes as the paths of Marvel and DC teams and heroes, while in the same world, aren't really going to be mixed except in actual gameplay and how history / future diverses from that.

Both Superman / Spiderman inter-company teams up storylines from 1976 and 1981 have already occured in the TaskVerse game timeline (within the last "two game years"), as has the Batman vs. Hulk incident and the X-Men / Teen Titans crossover. The only cosmetic difference there is that post-Crisis versions of DC characters participated in those events.



> Secret Wars had some appeal to me, since it
> greatly limits the scope of the campaign into
> something easier to follow and understand. Not
> sure if I am ready to commit learning a new
> homegrown timeline and universe yet.

Well, the timeline is largely game Judge / setting flavor reference. We'll be letting established characters know "where" in their career as a superhero they are, what villians they've already faced, etc.

A new, original character would be a hero debuting in a world already teeming with superheroes, none of which they know anything about other than what they've seen on TV or in the newspaper.