D I R E C T O R Y
Thread Staff: Forest State, Lunas Legion, Durmatagno
IC THREAD | ROSTER | EXPANDED LORE | THEMEChanging Times, Changing Heroes
“In academia, the trend of superheroes is generally broken down into multiple parts. Generations, they’re called. In a way, they’re like human generations that come with the passing of the decades. Each one being marked by differences from the others, and having their own attitudes and ways of going about things,” spoke the man at the front of the college classroom - a man who spoke as if he knew the subject matter like the back of his hand. The truth of the matter was that the man knew all about what he was saying thanks to having served as a hero himself… But that time was in the past. In a previous generation, actually.
His job had changed since then. It was to educate the current generation, the one that was growing up faster than what was comfortable. Soon enough, they’d be the ones making up the majority of the hero business. And while there was no need for him to come back and teach them, as he’d made enough profit during his time as an active hero to retire comfortably if he desired, he did it out of a personal desire to see them succeed. Not just because he was a thoughtful person, but because there was good reason to believe they wouldn’t succeed if they weren’t given help. They sure had a hell of a lot of things to worry about that hadn’t been on his mind back in the day.
The world had changed. People like him could only try to keep up with it and help out the ones who’d soon take the reins.
“The first generation of heroes weren’t really doing it out of the goodness of their heart… Metahumans appeared around the world following the start of the atomic age, and like every new thing that could present an advantage during the Cold War, both sides tried to make use of them. They say the first superheroes were artificial creations of these governments, usually used to foster the national spirit… Heroes like Captain Patriot and Red Star. But this artificial creation… Would turn into something much greater.”
He knew that as well as anyone. He’d seen the rise of the modern hero and participated in it himself, after all. “The second generation began after the public started to see superheroes as real icons. The idea was proven to work, the public caught on, and soon enough, having a team of heroes in your city was like having a sports team… And we saw a lot of new faces in this era. Everyone wanted to see ‘em come to their city and there’s only so many metahumans. Even less metahumans who want to take the plunge into a risky profession like this. The second gen might be the most familiar to you when you think of superheroes… They had bright outfits, simpler names, a tad more family friendly. It’s a past era. But it was a distinct one.”
“Out of the second generation, grew the third. The one that I can call myself a part of. The mid to late 80s to the 90s is when this generation kicked off and it’s been going strong ever since then. It’s either a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. They say that this is when heroes went corporate, when sponsor logos started showing up on costumes and when things became a bit more cynical with mass media becoming a bigger thing around the world and getting its hands on the hero business,” the teacher continued with a chuckle. “But if you ask me, I’d say it did more good than harm. This career… These heroes… They’re bigger than they ever were, all because of this era. Put the news on. What do you see? Superheroes. Head to the movies, who do you see on the big screen? Superheroes. What’s the biggest competitor to Hollywood and the music industry? The hero business. I’ve also gotta say that with our bigger fame and larger reach, we’ve been able to help a lot more people...”
The teacher paused before turning his sights towards the students. “So, you might be wondering where this generation leads to. Well, the third generation is still going strong, but the fourth already exists and will take over eventually. The fourth generation is also right in front of me - it’s all of you who are training to become heroes, and some of your peers who have already made it. The fact of the matter is, there’s an entire generation of kids born after the turn of the millennium, and they’ve never lived in a world that isn’t as hyper-connected as it is now… The fourth generation is simply the third, taken to the extreme. No longer are heroes simply in the news. They’re on your Twitter timelines, with millions of fans following their careers down to the minute. They can say something once, and it will become a viral meme within a couple days. The business side of things is booming, and bigger than ever. Step outside and it’s superheroes that you’ll see on billboards, head to the store and you’ll see their faces on products, talk to your friends and you may just find that they’re already talking about hero news.”
“Heroes have been popular for a long time, yes,” the man said, pausing for effect. “But your generation might be the first to experience true ‘hero-mania.’ It’s not all good… Fame comes with expectations. Fame comes with millions of people following your life, whether you like it or not. With stalkers, lack of privacy, with dealing with publicists and PR agents and all kinds of stuff that old heads like me never had to bother too much with. These days, you can take out a top villain on the wanted list and still come out the loser because you ended up getting ‘cancelled’ for some post you made online at 1 AM while you were drunk…”
“Some of you won’t make it,” the teacher admitted. “And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a hard life. Not one for everybody. But on the other hand… I believe the greater challenges come with greater rewards. Never has a generation of superheroes been faced with as many challenges as all of you, on and off the field of combat. However, no other generation will have the same reach as you. I simply have one question for all of you to ask yourselves… How far are you willing to go to chase your dreams of being a hero?”
INTRODUCTION - WELCOME TO THE SHOW
After making it through that somewhat long introduction, you might be wondering just what this RP that you’ve stumbled into is… Long story short, it’s another superhero RP that focuses on a number of things but mainly, at least for now, the rise of the fourth generation of heroes and what the hero thing looks like in a universe where superheroes play a large role in society.
In some aspects it’s an action RP where you can expect deep fight scenes and tense back and forths between heroes and their counterparts from the villainous side, but wider things are explored such as interacting with the press and with the organizations that regulate and control superheroes, and the social aspects of young adults being quickly thrust into a position of fame and fortune, which also demands a lot of skill and responsibility. That’s not to say that you need to write 1,000 words about your character’s feelings or spend pages RPing social interactions without getting to see action, just that these aspects have an affect on the RP and will be accounted for in the storytelling.
While the main focus of the RP is indeed superheroes, and a specific subset of them at that, a world that’s intended to feel alive will of course have other things. You can expect certain arcs to feature other characters and give a chance to play them, at various points - ranging from biker gangs to cartels to netrunners and government agents. While superheroes are one of the central themes, their actions have an impact on a vast number of people after all - and other people still impact their lives.
The Setting
The RP takes place against the backdrop of the turn of the decade, but 2020 in Heroes LIVE is very different from the 2020 we know today - in some ways, anyway. Many things are indeed the same but there are some important differences, notably in the fields of technology. All the tech you’re familiar with still exists, but thanks to the presence of metahumans, some of which are super geniuses who double as skilled inventors, there’s also some other technologies that don’t exist in real life yet but do in the RP. Heroes can head around the world quickly using supersonic passenger aircraft, laser weaponry is entering the arsenal of regularly used firearms, advanced armor and cybernetics are capable of tanking damage, and AI is much further along and has the chance to either benefit or greatly harm the world. These are just some of the things to expect from the tech level.
The largest differences between our world and the world of the RP, however, are social differences rather than technological ones. Unlike real life, superheroes are some of the most well known and respected people around the world. They’re definite celebrities, and their adventures and exploits are followed by a media hungry for content. The position comes with some social regard, too - in a way, like being a rock star or a famous sportsperson might be in our world, but perhaps more prestigious. Superheroes put themselves in great danger, after all. It’s only natural that it comes with a high payoff.
Superhero fights have been somewhat normalized by their presence in the world since the atomic age, and so has the violence associated with them. The business of superheroes is a raw and unfiltered one, and it’s common to see the results of these battles in full clarity thanks to the influence of the internet and the press… That’s to say, fights between heroes and villains, or heroes and regular people for that matter, tend to be a bloody and dangerous affair which are many times fatal for one side. Furthermore, heroes are even encouraged to fight by a ravenous public which can’t wait to see more of their stars in action. The most popular aren’t necessarily the most effective, but the ones that appeal the most to the crowd.
In other words, superheroes take on the role of policeman, entertainer, gladiator, and attempt to balance all three - law and order must be maintained, PR must remain decent, and the crowds want to see fights and blood. It’s a demanding job without bringing personal issues such as adjusting to fame and getting along with teammates into the picture. Of course, this is also the age of information. Everyone has a camera, and everyone’s practically a journalist these days… It only takes one person to spread news about something on the metahuman scene, and only one person with a phone to reveal some grand conspiracy or urgent happening for heroes to look into. It is for this reason that the 2020s are different from the decades before them, especially when it comes to this field.
ARCS - STEP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
As this RP covers various things within the same universe and roughly the same timeline, it’s been split into arcs to make things easier for players looking to join - or for existing players to keep track of which parts of the RP are relevant to their characters. Essentially, these arcs are self contained although some crossover between them may be possible depending on the circumstances. Each of them follows a different storyline which you can read about below. All characters should belong to one arc or another. There’s nothing fun about making a completely independent character who can’t interact with anything else in the RP thanks to not having connections with anybody.
Generation NEXT
Status: OPEN
Young adults getting thrust into the spotlight in the demanding hero business? Reality TV cameras thrown in to record their every move for the entertainment of superhero fans around the world? Surely nothing could go wrong with such a setup… This is Generation NEXT, produced by Team Infinity and the Hero News Network. Infinity is of course the largest and most important hero organization in North America - it employs tons of people, it runs some of the most important teams from New York to Los Angeles, and it has a global reach that extends into other countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. For a lot of heroes, making it into one of these teams, such as Infinity New York or Infinity London, is a longtime dream… And those who do well enough on this show will have a chance to make their dreams a reality.
The show only follows fourth generation heroes - that is, the ones that will take up the reins for the stars of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s some day. Most heroes considered ‘generation four’ are 21 or under, and have grown up in the age of social media and the peak of the celebrity hero. The expectations on them are bigger than ever, they have to deal with new issues such as getting ‘cancelled’ and rising corporate involvement in the hero world, and there’s now cameras following them everywhere… And phone cameras, too, ensuring anything they do in public can and will end up broadcast to millions. The rewards in this age are greater than ever, though, and for the metahumans who get selected for the show, it’s the chance of a lifetime.
Sure, it does have its challenges - but the show also comes with free travel around the world as exotic locations are made into the show’s backdrop, from the streets of New York to the high rises of Hong Kong, and not many metahumans get a chance to fight criminals on television and earn the respect and adoration of millions of people in the process. Getting on this show is about the fastest way to get famous, and there’s plenty of room to move up in the Infinity organization for those who perform. Want to work with the top heroes in the world, the ones who are trusted to handle the biggest crises out there? The road starts here.
Roman Tragedy
Status: INVITE ONLY
Team Infinity isn’t the only one in the hero business. They’ve seen off competition from plenty of others in the past, but none like AuTech, the company led by the enigmatic Jon Audley, a charismatic CEO with an interest in the hero business and, seemingly, a grudge against the way Infinity does things. Audley has announced his own competing program, in the form of hero teams run by AuTech - and the first is Team Wave, AuTech’s counter to Generation NEXT. While NEXT has their show on the Hero News Network, Wave has theirs on HBO… While NEXT travels the world, Wave has an expensive and brand new team house in one of the party capitals of the country, Las Vegas. Infinity is practically America’s hero organization, but in AuTech and Team Wave, they have a true challenger.
But throwing together a number of the best young talents from around the world with loose rules and a carefree attitude doesn’t always make for a stable team situation - and the members of Team Wave will have to fight through a number of challenges to get what they want out of the team and out of life. Secret deals gone wrong, superhero scandal, parking lot shootouts, romantic clashes, war between cartels, and more can be expected from this epic of an arc which itself is based on a revival of earlier arcs for a new and deeper universe. Lines will be blurred, the sides of conflict will be shuffled up, and telling who’s a friend and who’s a foe won’t always be easy. This is, after all, a story of what it’s like to live and die in the city of Sin. But if you can hit 21 instead of going bust, the whole world will be in front of you…
WORLDBUILDING - THE WORLD OF HEROES LIVE
It’s not an RP without a world surrounding it and this one is no exception. With one of the aims being to make a universe that feels somewhat alive, some time has been spent fleshing out the background of the RP and just how that impacts our characters - superhero or otherwise. Hopefully, this section of the thread will do a good job explaining some of the aspects of the world of the RP that you should know about, and things that will be referred to in the future. Further lore will be linked below the first post, in an index.
CHARACTER BUILDING - MAKING A HERO
Before you can do anything, you’re going to need at least one character. The character building system in this RP is for the most part what you’re used to, but there’s a couple key differences. There are some RPG elements in this RP, but don’t worry - it’s not a mechanics based RP and you won’t have to worry about these elements as a player. All of the work falls on the side of the thread staff in this area, and as the player, all you have to do is know what the numbers mean and how to fill them out. The process is fairly easy.
Characters have four attributes - Strength, Dexterity, Health, and Intelligence. These attributes, and dice rolls, are used to determine the outcomes of some actions. These rolls don’t apply to everything, of course. You don’t have to roll to do some mundane task such as getting in a car and driving somewhere. You would roll, however, for important things such as combat or handling some other important task.
As an example, let’s say that you want to shoot at an enemy. Your dexterity skill is 12, so to hit, you have to roll at or under that number. If the result of the roll was 11, for example, your roll would be a success. If it was 13 or higher, it would be a failure. All attribute rolls are conducted on Discord with 3d6 dice - players also don’t need to do their own rolls, as this is typically handled by the thread staff.
The better your stats are in a given area, the more likely a roll is to succeed. There is no ‘point system’ that determines what your stats can be. Your character should be balanced, however, and their stats should match up fairly decently with their skillset. Someone who has focused heavily on working out and strengthening their body isn’t going to have the same intelligence stat as the person who spends all of their time studying strategy, for example. Stats can theoretically be any number, but most of them range from 8-15.
Wondering what stats your character should have? Below, you can find an explanation for just how strong each level is.
Not sure about this system and the difficulty involved? Feel free to post any questions on this thread - additionally, know that the player is mostly responsible for some setup and the OP and Co-OPs handle most of the actual legwork. The use of mechanics also ensures a fairer RP for all of you, the players. By rolling for results, things like fight scenes are sped up and improved by cutting out a lot of unnecessary discussions - there’s no need to debate whether something like an attack hitting is fair or not when it’s based on the results of a roll against your character’s skill rather than someone’s subjective decision.
Superpowers
One of the key things in a superhero based RP is having superpowers, of course. This section will be simpler but there’s a few things that you should note.
The first is that the metahuman gene, Gene M, grants a passive strength and durability bonus, and by extension a bonus to athleticism, by default. You don’t need to list this passive bonus on your application, because it’s already assumed that you have it. This bonus generally puts you ahead of the average person by some margin and allows for tanking some damage in fights. It isn’t the same thing as super strength, however, and a metahuman who specifically specializes in super strength will have no problems beating out the strength of another metahuman who only has the passive bonus.
Second, some powers have been banned due to their inherently unbalanced or anti gameplay nature (for example, time travel can negatively affect gameplay for other characters around yours). Others are limited in certain ways. Please check this list below before making a character.
Super speed based powers are limited to no more than 75 miles per hour with a 0-75 mph acceleration time of four seconds. Time travel and vector manipulation are banned entirely thanks to their unbalanced nature and negative effects on gameplay, and in the case of time travel, potentially also on the flow of writing for other players who are caught up in another character’s time manipulation. On the technology front, portable railguns are banned as well as power armor that more than doubles the performance of the user.
Applications
If you’ve read all of this, you can look below to find the application as well as an FAQ that may answer some more questions about the thread.
