Who Wants to Kill the DCU?

***

To begin at the end.

It wasn't the thing that came from that other world, that other universe, that killed their world. How could it? It was an impossibly advanced piece of technology, true, but it was harmless. Later on, the survivors would discover that it was a probe, designed to burrow through the pinholes of reality and explore other dimensions. Merely a scientific endeavor. Completely benign.

No, what killed their world were the things that came after.

These things had no name. They dwelled in a place that had no need for names, or anything at all. Their universe contained one thing only, and that was themselves. Ancient, shapeless, dead to every thought and emotion but hate. When the probe shot through their dimension, they sensed it. Reached out, tasted, and followed. Used whatever primal cancerous power they had inside them to tear the pinhole wide, and spilled through into the world.

Now, this world wasn't defenseless. Its dominant species, humanity, knew war. Had known it its entire brief existence. And among that species were certain individuals with incredible abilities, and they used those abilities for both good and evil. For miraculous feats of self-sacrifice and depravity. But mostly they used those abilities to beat the shit out of each other in totally sweet fight scenes whenever they met. 

So when the things from that other place came through -- all darkness and teeth -- well this world, with all its military and all its missiles, its nations and institutions, its super-heroes and super-villains, fought back. And considering how unprepared they were for anything like this, they did a damned good job. Its countries forgot age-old atrocities and joined forces for the first time in history. The superhumans abandoned the strictly held tenets of moral alignment to battle the invaders alongside their arch-enemies. 

For six years the planet shook. For six years humanity devoted itself to total war. Every citizen, every resource, and every minute of every day was arrayed beneath a banner of resistance. For six years they fought and killed and died.

But mostly they died. With great effort and loss the invaders could be killed, true, but they simply could not be stopped. They were too strong and fearless, too incomprehensible and too adaptable, too great in number and too full of hate to be stopped. They turned the world into a cracked shell. Entire nations, continents, were reduced to ash. The dried ocean floors were carpeted with the dead. Cities gaped like open wounds. And here and there were remnants of those iconic figures whose great powers and abilities defined their final age: a shredded cowl, a broken shield, an empty power ring.

But after six years, after the monsters had had their fill and moved on to find other worlds to slaughter, there were some who managed to outlast them. A few hundred thousand people survived, scattered around what remained of the planet. And whether through sheer power or skill, intelligence or determination, or whether they were just that damn lucky or just that damn tough, a very few superhumans had survived with them.

And while the rest of humanity set out to find each other in the new wildernesses, these few superhumans, heroes and villains alike, gathered together and forged in the rage of their loss a new and unbreakable mandate: They would do what they could for their people, and then they would find whoever was responsible for leading those creatures to their world, and make them answer.

***

TL;DR

Okay, I'm gauging interest in an rpg where you play a super-hero/villain from a parallel Earth, otherwise identical to our modern day one, whose planet has been led to waste by a force of extradimensional beings. These beings arrived into your world by following a probe launched from another parallel Earth in another parallel universe, specifically the DC Universe. Yes, this is a shameless rip-off of Marvel's Ultimate Power storyline, where the Squadron Supreme attack the Ultimate Universe because a probe sent by Reed Richards inadvertently leads to the Squadron Supreme's Earth nearly getting destroyed. I have no originality, and I'm sorry.

Your character will join a strike force of your world's last remaining superhumans. Your mission will be to invade DC's Earth and, whether in the name of justice or vengeance, make the bastards pay.

Sound good?

On Character Creation

I'll be posting my CS and a template in this space later on, but for now, a few notes to consider when writing a character for this RP. 

1. There will be no real power cap or limitations, provided you keep it reasonable. No large-scale reality warping, etc. After all, if your character was that strong, they probably could have stopped the invasion. 

2. Similarly, don't make them too underpowered, or some sort of teenage rookie/sidekick. You're a hardened veteran who just fought a constant war for six years. There's a reason you survived what your colleagues and nemeses couldn't. You're one of the best of the best.

3. I'm not very interested in your character's history. That history is dead, along with your world. Whatever the direction the needle of your moral alignment used to sway, it is now firmly pointed at "Very. Pissed. Off." You may have been a hero once, and maybe in time you will be again, but for the moment, all you know is rage.

4. No matter how strong and competent and angry your character is, however, keep in mind that you are going up against a much larger group of superhumans, not to mention a whole world, who are used to dealing with apocalyptic threats without flinching. You will be tested.

5. Eventually, depending on participating, I will allow people to RP as established characters in the DCU. For now, all PCs are part of the strike team, who, by the way, still need a bad-ass team name.

GM and Setting

'Sup. I'd prefer to be as hands-off as much as possible because I am lazy, but I also want to tell a good story. So this RP will be sandbox style where there will be a main 'quest line' but at the same time allow the players to go forth and punch whoever they want in the face. I'll still be governing the game world as a whole, initiating challenges and obstacles, controlling enemy NPC's and plot points and such. Other than that, it's up to you. Just be sure to don't get in over your head. You're a bad-ass, sure, and you'd kick Robin's little green pants and Green Arrow's stupid little beard six ways to Sunday, but don't go charging off to take on the JLA by yourself. You will die. And it will hurt the whole time you're dying.

I want the bulk of the roleplay to focus on character development and storytelling. And, yes, plenty of punching. Make me believe that you just survived the death of your homeworld, and that you want some damn retribution.  

As for the setting, the choice of the DCU is extremely subject to change. I'm mostly familiar with Marvel and DC, but Marvel as a whole is underpowered, and I wanted to make sure we had an extremely hard fight in front of us. But I am open to suggestions. Want to integrate characters from the Marvel Universe as well? Other universes like Image and Dark Horse? Those giant friggin robots from Pacific Rim? Let me know! I don't give a crap! 

And lastly

This is all still very early. I won't have the opportunity to full commit to being a GM for another couple weeks. I will put an OOC up though if this gets enough interest. This is just here to see if anyone wants to give this a shot, as well as to field any questions/suggestions.
BartlebyWhale Semi-Aquatic Scrivener

Ultimate Spidey

malmshodes
