Back by (sort of) popular demand! Like John Lennon Matryoshka dolls. Who doesn't love those?
Click here for the ICGods Among Us is a character based, story driven, role-play. It focuses on Superheroes in a world where they have been known for a while. It will be heavily action-orientated with short, succinct plot lines for your characters to punch, shoot, kick and eye-laser their way through.-----The World as we know it in 2019-----Meta-humans, or whatever you want to call them, have been around for as long as human history. Over the ages they have been described in a variety of ways, magicians, demi-gods, monsters, witches, heroes. As cultures change, so has the way people came to describe them. The witch hunts of the middle ages drove those with powers into hiding, and the rationality of the enlightenment caused people to stop believing in them, though in the 20th century, all that began to change. The first modern reports of meta-human activity date back to the First World War, and they accelerated from there until, by the 1970s, there was little doubt in the minds of any but the most sceptical individuals, that there were people with extraordinary powers living among us.
Since then, some people have used their powers to do good. Many have used them for personal gain. The governments of the world have, inevitably, attempted to use people of power for their own purposes.
In 1999, seven of the world's most powerful meta-humans led by a man known as 'the Seer' met at a secret location, somewhere in the continental United States. The people who came to the meeting were a diverse group from different countries, different religions and each harbouring their own world-view. What unified them was a shared desire to do good in the world and a shared concern that public opinion of meta-humans would be shaped by the criminals and the selfish. The meta-humans at the conference feared that this would lead to the meta-human community being victimised by a fearful population of normal humans and they sought to prevent that from ever happening. The meeting dragged on for three days, but at the end of it, the world had it's first super-hero team, the 'First Earth Battalion'.
Anyone with abilities is free to join the First Earth Battalion and they are free to leave at any time. The Battalion is secretive and doesn't owe allegiance to any country, although the Seer is known to make appearances at the UN (in New York) and the First Earth Battalion's public headquarters is in Manhattan (though they have safe-houses around the globe). It has, over the years, included all manner of interesting people, from wanted criminals to University lecturers. While it is still administered by the original seven meta-humans (who now call themselves the 'Council of Seven'), members are, generally, given free reign to do as they please, provided that they abide by the rules the Council agreed at the first conference.
The rules of the Battalion state that a member of the First Earth Battalion should:
- give their loyalty, before all else, to the planet earth and the people on her.
- follow the instruction of the Council of Seven.
- protect the weak and defenceless.
- live honourably and bring honour to the Battalion.
- never abandon a task you have agreed to.
- always stand firm against meta-humans who would harm the innocent.
-----You-----You are a member of the First Earth Battalion. Other than that, feel free to be as creative as you like... with two exceptions:
- Please do not to write is a character that's existence proves/disproves any particular IC religious viewpoint. Why? Because I like to create a whole range of interesting diverse characters who hold contradictory views on the working of the universe. If someone writes a Roman Catholic Angel who communes with the Pope every Friday and Second Wednesday, it makes all the atheist/hindu/protestant characters look like they are being a bit silly.
- Please pitch characters somewhere in the Wolverine/Batman/Spider Man general level of power (yes, I know their powers change a bit between comics and their film iterations, but hopefully you get the general idea). Do not pitch them at the Superman/Dr. Manhattan level. This is designed so that 'peak human' characters are not completely useless and so that you will, as a team, encounter some villains who you can't beat solo.
I'll allow big powers if they come with big weaknesses and also if they are highly situational, e.g. the ability to turn toucans into thermonuclear weapons probably wouldn't be useful all that often... unless you also write the character as carrying a sack of toucans around with them.
We are open to characters who aren't members of the FEB, currently, provided that they link into the story and aren't going to detract from the main plot. If you have an idea, feel free to ask and we'll figure out a way to work you in.-----The Story So Far-----The First Earth Battalion responded to what they believed was a robbery in progress at the First Brooklyn Savings Bank being carried out by the infamous meta-humans known as 'Hellgate' and 'Blur'. After engaging the two meta-humans and their accomplices, Blur was seriously injured fighting Death Bullet (an FEB Hero) and a number of accomplices were either killed or incapacitated. A truck thrown at Hellgate failed to kill him. The robbers fled back to the bank at which point Blur pleaded for a brief window to negotiate a surrender. During this window, a previously unknown meta-human who had been in the bank opened a portal, allowing the robbers to slip through the FEB's fingers.
The robbery, however, turned out to be a distraction designed to lure the FEB Heroes away from their headquarters where the Council of Seven were gathered for negotiations. While they were away, unknown assailants infiltrated FEB Headquarters and planted a bomb which detonated, destroying the building and killing six of the seven Council members. The surviving Council member, 'The Seer', remains in a coma.-----Lore-----How to get stuff in the Lore Section
As people create characters, and they are accepted, the lore will be built up around them (and written here). For instance, if you want to write a werewolf character and you write a whole lot of stuff about what being a werewolf means, that will then become the thread's lore around werewolf and anyone who subsequently wants to write a werewolf will need to make it work with your character.
Mythological Monsters-----The Rules-----
- Decisions
My word and the word of anyone I appoint as a Co-OP (yes, there will be co-ops) is binding. If you don’t like a decision, you can, of course, ask for us to reconsider it. Once. If we made a decision you don’t like, complaining for pages and pages is not going to endear you to anyone. Not me, not the Co-OPs and not your fellow writers.
On that note, I intend to run this thread as an anarcho-communist cooperative. This is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying that my word DOES NOT overrule theirs. If there is an appeal and a dispute amongst the Co-OPs we will take a vote on the matter.- Post Quality
I don’t have a beef with short posts but please use proper spelling (I don’t care what regional variant), grammar etc.
Ideally also try to include a 'hook' when you write a post, which is to say something that gives other people something to respond to. If your post is something along the lines of 'Bilbo Baggins stayed in his room and read a book while the world was ending', don't be surprised if nobody responds to you.- Posting Commitment: Nothing is worse than making an RP only for it to die. Please try to make at least one post every 48 hours or so. If you find yourself unable to post, please let me know in the OOC thread. If it looks like you've abandoned a character in the middle of a fight scene I might decide to kill them off... but this is a super-hero RP, I'm sure we can find a creatively improbable way to resurrect them if you reappear!
- Posting Speed On the flip side, blitz posting can also be infuriating. So, especially during the important scenes, I recommend giving your fellow players a reasonable time to make a reply. We all have real lives. That being said, if someone leaves everyone waiting for over 48 hours, feel free to carry on the scene without them.
- OOC thread Manners
Nothing annoys me more than bad manners on an OOC thread (apart from that 'Look at my horse, my horse is amazing' song). Swearing, passive-aggressive sniping or any other rude behaviour are not welcome on the OOC. I will warn you once. If you can’t control yourself I will ask you to remove yourself from the thread.- IC thread Manners
Remember, we are writing a story together, not playing to win. If I think you are writing your character as overpowered, I will ask you to tone it down.- Character Death
Player death is possible in this RP, though will be quite rare and easily avoidable. Please don’t write that you have killed another character unless you have OOC permission from the character's owner to do it. Beat them into a pulp or take them prisoner, but don’t kill them. Having said that, if someone does something really stupid, I reserve the right to announce your character has got themselves killed. Likewise, if someone goes inactive in the middle of a fight scene without explanation and cannot be raised, I may decide to kill their character off.- Keep it PG13
Shouldn’t need to be telling you this really but keep the erotica and gorn off the thread. Hopefully you all know how to write forum-safe stuff. I will be extremely disappointed if the mods have to pay us a visit.- Banning Players
I really don’t want to be doing that but reserve the right to if you cannot follow the (hopefully, rather simple) rules above.-----The People in Charge-----
Any Co-OP who joins me in helping to run this thread is an 'owner' in their own right. Nobody overrules anyone else and if there is a big decision, we will talk about it as a group and make a decision by consensus/vote.
If you are a Co-OP, feel free to do anything I might do!
The people currently in charge are:
- Demencia
- Dyelli Beybi (that's me!)
-----Sign Up-----
- Code: Select all
[box][align=center][size=200]Gods Among Us Character Application[/size][/align]
[size=150][b]Character Description[/b][/size]
[list][b] Name:[/b]
[b]Aliases:[/b] (What is their superhero name? I will give this 1-5 Adam Wests depending upon how awesomely cheesy this is)
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] [spoiler](Feel free to describe with text or put pictures in here. If you are using a picture, personally, I find it easier to picture a character who is shown in photo/realistic drawing though I'm not going to get funny about anything else. Unless it is your personal stick-man art. I might draw the line at that.)[/spoiler]
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[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Motivations[/b][/size]
[list][b]Goals:[/b] (What is your character aiming to do?)
[b]Fears:[/b] (Is there something they fear they might do… or are they afraid of clowns?)
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[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Strengths and Weaknesses[/b][/size]
[list]
[b]Source of Power[/b]: (Are you a mythological monster? Are you genetically enhanced? An alien? A creature from another dimension? Or perhaps just someone in a fancy suit?)
[b]Powers [/b]: (Please be specific about things like strength and speed. Also, if there are any conditions to how powers work, list these here)
[b]Abilities[/b]: (Are they particularly skilled in things, that aren't superhuman abilities, that someone on the street might not be so good at?)
[b]Equipment[/b]: (Is there anything special they have that you might not normally be able to get? e.g. military weapons)
[b]Weaknesses[/b]: (These are things that will put you at a disadvantage in combat. Personality traits are not weaknesses. Use these to keep your character balanced. It is not essential that you add them.)
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[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Background:[/b][/size]
[list][b]Job[/b]: (If they have one)
[b]Legal Status[/b]:(Is your character a hero who stops for photos outside the local coffee shop? Or a wanted criminal?)
[b]Backstory[/b]:(How did you come to join the First Earth Battalion?)
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