Welcome to Eagle Mountain Boarding Lodge (Realistic/Powers/Casual+)
This lodge and the surrounding 5856.6 acres (9.15 square miles) of rugged terrain were bought from a private owner by the state of Idaho in 1985 as part of a parcel deal that included much more land, which was subsequently sold in smaller lots. From 1993 to 1997, the Idaho Park Rangers used this land as a training and education area before funding fell through. It was acquired by the Idaho State Police in 2001, and was again sold back to the state in 2007. In 2009, the property was sold to the Idaho Department of Social Services in the interest of building a new kind of Foster Care facility that would help bring children a much more peaceful, friendly and caring way of life. It is our goal to counsel, and educate the wards who come to us, to prepare them for the next stage of their lives.
On the grounds of Eagle Mountain Lodge, you will find peace and quiet easy to come by. With acres of trails to explore, a natural spring to swim in, and a beautiful old-style log construction lodge for the dormitory that was first constructed back in 1902.
Premise is this: your character is from a foster care “life”. They are sent to this Lodge, and begin developing supernatural abilities. Abilities that are given to your character by me and a co-gm, not you. This is an attempt to break people out of their “comfort zone”, to see if they can explore something which they may, or may not be used to. From here on, the reactions each character has to their ability, and the abilities of the others, and the reaction of other people should, I hope, shape the course of the game, and become progressively sandbox in scope. Does your character like these abilities? Are they afraid of them? Do they lust for more power? Do they seek altruism, or seek malevolence...or the infinite shades of grey in between? How do they respond to others who now have similar abilities? How do they respond to normal people? How will normal people respond to these “altered” children?
My Co-GM is JurassicHole. He has all the same authority as I do.
Now, I do have a request:
Ideas for abilities. I have a few, but more is better. I love variety.
To answer a couple of questions that might be asked:
Q: Why not a high school setting?
A: Because it is over played, and really? Just doesn’t make sense. If you’re going to alter some kids and basically conscript them for some kind of test, why would you intentionally choose intelligent, well raised kids, who have caring families, who would want to see them over Christmas break, or any other time period? When instead there is an entire system already in place that gathers kids who have no family to turn to, who aren’t going to be looked for, and if there is some kind of “accident”, they can just slip through the cracks and be forgotten?
Q: Why Idaho?
A: Again, logically: If you are going to be doing something that is considered highly illegal, immoral, and potentially dangerous; are you really going to set up shop next to some big city? One errant kid slinging fireballs, and you have a lot of trouble on your hands. One errant kid slinging fireballs in the middle of the mountains in Idaho? Who is there to see it?
Q: Are there any other supernatural people or phenomena?
A: No. Think of it this way; what would you do if you woke up tomorrow and someone walked through your town and started slinging fireballs everywhere? There are no other mutants. There are no X-men. There is no Batman. There is nothing even remotely similar to these characters in the rest of the world. There are comics and fiction similar, but real people? Do not exist.
Q: What sort of power level are we talking here? DBZ? DC Comics? Marvel Comics? What?
A: To speak categorically and broadly? Think Avatar: The Last Airbender as maximum.
Q: So it’s going to be Avatar based?
A: No. The powers are going to be mental, or physical modifications..Think Telekinesis, even elemental kinesis. Physical transformations would be different again. Regeneration, bone manipulation, etc. I have not based this idea on anything, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is similar to something
Q: Any limitations?
A: Of course. Watched Chronicle? Anyways, abilities start out weak and not really powerful or useful, and drain you brutally. Mental abilities will cause splitting migraines, nose bleeds, etc, when over used. Pushing yourself past that point can and will result in brain hemorrhaging ...ie: Death. Physical abilities can leave you winded, fatigued, exhausted, and potentially lung collapse or heart complications...ie: Death. The more you use it, the more skilled you become at its use, the more powerful you become with it, the longer you can use it. Etc.
Q: Can I play a teacher?
A: No. Only I, and JurassicHole will be able to control the faculty/counsellors.
Q: Can I play an evil character?
A: What is evil? Remember; people who we think of as “evil”, thought they were doing the right thing. They thought what they were doing was the only logical course of action. Many will say that Hitler was a man of “Great Evil”, yet he did some remarkably great things: He actively tried to get people to quit smoking, he tried to motorize his entire nation with cheap, efficient, affordable transportation (The VW Beetle), to top it off; he took a country so indebted, so poor that money was about as worthless as pocket lint, and in six years took the country from basically a third world poverty level, to one of the most industrious, prosperous nations of its time. On top of that, he helped revolutionize the German industry from making cheap, throw-away items (“Made in Germany” was regarded in the 20’s as “Made in Sri Lanka” or “Made in China” is today), to the image of “German Quality” we have to this very day.
If you just want your character to kick kittens, slap people for looking at them funny, and actually think of themselves as Evil, and really believe it too? No. If they have slightly twisted morals, a skewed look on the world, etc? Sure. I do want conflict. I do want tension, I want the drama that comes from people having differing points of view. Hell, I would love nothing more than to have two “groups” that sort of oppose each other. But I do hope it comes naturally, and isn’t just “build in” for the sake of it.
Q: Can I make my character pre-adolescent or adult?
A: Sorry, no. Character must be between the ages of 13 and 17. Under thirteen, and there is much more likelihood of the child finding normal permanent foster care. Once a child hits eighteen years of age, their status as a ward of the state is ended, and they must find their own path. Thus their exclusion from the selection.
Q: Can my character be new to foster care?
A: Again, no. Character must have been in the foster care system for three years or more. The system is to weed out the children that are likely to fostered, or adopted normally.
Q: Can my character have some family to visit them/run to?
A: I like saying no...due to foster care regulations, your character’s family is either non-existent, non-caring, or abusive. If there was a caring grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousin, your character would have been placed in their care long ago. If your character’s biological parents were deemed unsuitable parents, it is safe to say they are not eligible to “reclaim” your character.
Q: Can I make a really intelligent character?
A: Character should be “average”. I am not looking for 14 year old geniuses, who could write their Doctorates with a week’s notice. I am looking for the “average mix” of adolescents in this age group. The determined, or openly ambitious would not be selected, nor would the vastly intelligent. Just the same, if you say your character grew up on the streets since they were five? Don’t expect to be accepted...because that is ridiculous.
Q: Can my character come from <insert country here>?
A: As much as I like ethnic diversity? Not likely. They would have to have moved with their parents at least 10 to 8 years prior, been found in negligence of the child, or abusive, or killed, after a couple years. Why so long? The family would have to have lived in the US for a minimum of 5 years to gain their citizenship status (without having a felony charge against them). Add in time for the cause of the child’s transfer to the state for whatever reason, and you are looking at a minimum of 8 years. If the family fell apart before the 5 years for their citizenship, the child would be deported back to their home country, for that country’s child services to deal with.
Q: So we’ll be stupid powerful and unstoppable by the police and military? Awesome!
A: Errr, no. Neither the Police, nor the Military enrolled in “The Empire Marksmanship Course.” Cause enough ruckus to draw out the police (IE: Start killing people)? They can, and will fire on you. They won’t hit you with every shot, but they very likely will hit you. Same with the Military. Soldiers are not from 1-800-henchmn. They have guns. They know how to fire their guns. They do not sit in the open for you to kill or maim either. Pyrokinetics cannot lob bombs that will blow up tanks. An Aerokinetic cannot make a “wall of wind” that is hard enough to stop a bullet, but they could make a very powerful gust to blow a long range bullet off course. A Geokinetic could raise a wall to stop a bullet. A Hydrokinetic could raise a wall of water thick enough to stop a bullet. But no one can do these feats as a reaction to the gun firing. You have to pre-empt the action to defend against it. Also, bullets are generally faster than sound: They hit, before you hear it firing.
Lot of pre-empted questions, and I can understand that many will find this “restrictive”. And it is in some ways, very restrictive. It is that way because reality is restrictive. Yet look at your friends, not one is a carbon copy of the other. And once “powers” get assigned, well...things should get a bit more diverse and interesting.
OOC is here: http://roleplayerguild.com/showthrea...ding-Lodge-OOC
