Welcome true believers; welcome to All-Star Marvel, an intoxicating land where creativity for creativity's sake can take priority and enable you to render stories and events you could only have dreamed of in all of your previous mundanity. We welcome you to a unique narrative opportunity to take any Marvel character character and re-imagine them in a way that makes them pleasurable for you to write unique and original stories with. In this universe no events in the main Marvel comics continuity are considered canon. It is entirely contained within the forum and within your imagination. Am I over-egging it? Perhaps. It's still pretty cool to see.
Whether you're one for emotional drama or a sucker for physical trauma, the vast range of characters available could fit any genre or any purpose you could reasonably imagine. Is your interest piqued by a fresh interpretation of Bruce Banner that you really wanna try out? Own it. Love Thor but hate that darned old hammer? Sling it. Think that The Whizzer is in need of a drastic revival? That's good too. No-one is off limits here. Not even Doop. As long as they have appeared in a canonical Marvel tale on either the page or the screen they're free for refurbishment. Here, the MARVEL UNIVERSE is yours to mold.
||The Present Day:||
The year is 2012 and the world can never change back to how it was. Two years ago, uncanny individuals began to surface, performing many marvelous deeds. Nevertheless, due to their lack of exposure in the media, these super-humans were only thought as rumors and urban myths. But as a year came and went, these sightings of super-humans soared until the point when their existence was no longer questioned. In an age of rationalism and science, the world was bewildered by these individuals. What was once thought a things of legend were now real: men flying unaided by humanity's ingenuity, lifting inhumanly heavy weights, and even defying the established laws of nature.
At the same time as the super-humans arose, a secret government agent stepped out of the shadows in order to deal with the chaos caused by the emergence of the super-human. This organization is the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D. for short. Not only was it their task to monitor all super-human activity, but also to combat any organization that threatened the existence of the world. No one outside the organization knows how long S.H.I.E.L.D. has been operating. Whether they just recently formed or had been monitoring the situation for years, everyone knew that they were here to stay.
||The Discovery of Mutants:||
While the term "Mutant" was only recently coined for those individuals who possessed the X-gene, mutants have existed for decades. Most incidents involving mutants happened on the local level of society and therefore were usually seen as isolated events. Many mutants, who appeared normal on the outside, could pass are regular humans, while those who could not pass as a normal human went into hiding in fear of being labeled a demon. Even with the occasional uncanny event, the majority of humanity never connected the dots between these occurrences.
However, as the decades rolled, the mutant population kept growing and growing, which meant is became more difficult for mutants to remain under the radar. However, in the 80's, a group of powerful mutants, including Charles Xavier, Erik Lensherr, and Raven Darkholme, formed a group, called the Brotherhood, swearing to keep mutantkind hidden from the rest of the world, lest humanity, threatened by the potential power of the mutants, launch a preemptive strike against their evolved brethren.
For a decade, this alliance successfully prevented the general public from learning the truth about mutants. However, the leadership of the Brotherhood eventually collapsed as they had differing ideologies concerning human-mutant relations. Therefore, the Brotherhood was dissolved and the mutants went their separate ways. As a result of this, Charles Xavier founded the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning by using his family inheritance to fund the project, while Erik, now referring to himself as Magneto, reformed the Brotherhood of Mutants, binding his time until it was the right moment for mutantkind to strike back.
Through recent genetic research in 2010, it was discovered that not only was the human race still evolving, but that these mutations could give people super-human powers. Once super-humans began to appear on the national stage, people began to ask whether this 'X-gene' was the cause of the surge of super-humans, or was this a separate event? Despite the answer to that question, the results from this research could finally explain occurrences in the past that could not be explained in the past.
||The Current Situation:||
The world is in its second year of fully knowing the existence of super-humans. What happens next is up to you, the players. This Universe is a clean slate. Will the Avengers form? What calamity will cause their formation? And who will comprise of that roster? Who will compose Xavier's X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood? How will the world treat Mutant-kind? Will humans receive mutants with open arms or will they cast them out in an attempt to preserve humanity? All these questions will be answered by you, the players, as your stories unfold.
So we're now looking at:
• 1942 - Captain America, accompanied by a hand selected team of professionals enter the war, guns blazing.
• 1980's - The Brotherhood is founded. Members include Charles Xavier, Erik Lensherr, and Raven Darkholme.
• 1990's -The Brotherhood is dissolved after the leadership had clashing ideologies. Charles Xavier founds the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning, while Magneto reforms the Brotherhood in his own image.
• 2010 - Super-humans begin to fall under the radar of the general public. However, at this point, they are still only urban legends. The 'X-gene' is discovered.
• 2011 - The world accepts the existence of super-humans. Most heroes begin their careers in this year.
• 2012 - The Present Day.
• Character applications must only star similar or reinterpreted characters from the Marvel universe. Characters can be picked from the main 616 comic continuity, spin-off series (Ultimate, MCU etc.) or from any Marvel movies, cartoons or live-action series. Any applications featuring original characters or characters from other companies (DC/Darkhorse/Image etc) will be dismissed.
• At the start you may only apply for Hero or Walking the Line characters. Villains are available to anyone given a second and third character slot.
• Players will be limited to the use of one Hero character at the start. After three IC posts a second and third slot will be made available to you.
• If you are new to the RPG, your first arc should be your character's introduction arc. While it does not have to be your character's origin story, take this opportunity to flesh out your character(s).
• Before starting a game wide event, check with the GM to ensure it will not conflict with ongoing plans. Such events should NOT be your introductory arc.
◦ There will be no calling dibs for characters. Every character is available to every player from the start - players cannot lay claim to any character without posting a complete character application. Multiple players may attempt to apply for the same character and all competing applications posted within 24 hours of the first will be considered by the GM, to be judged and selected as they see fit. Any applications after this 24 hour cut-off point will not be considered.
• You are required to post at least once every 28 days (i.e. 4 weeks), although it is preferred for you to post more (once a week is ideal, once every two weeks is fine). If you fail to post altogether (without prior communication through PMs or the OOC thread with a viable explanation) for this time, your character will be released from the roster and be free to be applied for by another player.
• If you wish, you may then re-apply for the character. If accepted, you will be restricted to the use of one character for a probationary period of two weeks. Consistent posting during this time will re-enable you to pick up a second character. Failure to post during the period however will lead to a full game ban.
• You must post in the IC thread within two weeks of its approval. Failure to do so will enable other players to apply for your character.
• Player controlled Characters (PCs) may not be killed without permission from the player said character belongs to. However, feel free to brutally murder as many nameless Non-Player Characters (NPCs) as possible within the constraints of your own character.
• Butting into other character's story lines/events without asking permission prior will not be tolerated. It's rude and unnecessary - if you can make a good enough case and communicate with the other members your likely to be given permission. Interaction and politeness need to to go hand in hand if this is to be enjoyable.
• Legacy Characters/Sidekicks (Red Hulk, Ben Reily, Bucky, Rescue, War Machine etc.) may only be applied for if the player responsible for their traditional 'Mentor' permit it as their existence may go against the vision the pre-established player has for their own character. If accepted, communication between both parties will help to make the experience more enjoyable for both. Exemptions of the rule can occur if no such character yet exists in the roleplay or if the character can be feasibly reimagined without any association with their counterpart. Communication and cooperation is key.
• Any location within the Marvel U (on planet or off) is available to you as a setting for your adventures, so long as it is within your character's means to be there in the first place. Namor is bound to feel at home 10'000 leagues under the sea. Spider-Man? Not so much. Exceptions can be made if the story allows for it.
• Time-travel is forbidden unless a character's origin demands it (e.g, Kang the Conqueror). In these cases all time travel will have been done with prior to the character's first interaction with a PC.
• Stay in character. Act like them, not as an extension of yourself with neato powers.
• Don't just play to win. The aim here is to produce fun stories and collaborations, not to conquer the world and enslave it's populous through untempered brute force. By the laws of probability there are bound to be battles your character cannot win. Embrace it.
• Try and be as creative as possible with your character sheets. This process is as much a test of your competency in commanding language as it is showing your ideas for a character. Blatant copy and pasting of other people's work from discarded character sheets, wiki pages or the like will not be tolerated. I will check.
• Please refrain from having your character perform any random game-changing actions; no one likes waking up to find that a player has had their character destroy the moon, least of all the population of Attilan. Only perform actions that your character can do and would do on paper.
• Respect the GM(s), and they shall respect unto you. If they ask you to change something, it's in the interests of the game for you to comply.
• The GM reserves the right to expel any member as they see fit if given reason.
• All regular Guild rules apply.
Character Sheet template:
Player Name:
Character You Wish To Play:
Moral Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line):
Affiliation (what group/team/organization, if any, is your character affiliated with?):
Character Origin & Backstory:
Powers and Abilities (What can your character do? What can't they do?):
Sample Story Arcs: Give 2-3 ideas on where you want to go with your character.
Sample Post (This is used as an introduction to your writing – try to keep it to around three paragraphs or more and try to include dialogue):
Quick thanks to ErsatzEmperor and others who ran the previous iterations of this RP.
