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Marvel: Knights of New York is a city-scale roleplaying game, centered around various heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. Taking cues from Marvel's Netflix series, the Marvel MAX line of comics, and the titular Marvel Knights imprint, this game is meant to have a more mature and/or dramatic tone and an emphasis on 'street-level' action, with the stories confined to the boroughs of New York City.

Legendary video game designer Phil Spector once said that his dream game would be a "city-block simulator," where the play-area is limited to a single city block, but everything within said block is fully realized and interactive. With that design ethos in mind, the reason behind keeping everything within the Big Apple is to encourage players to flesh out the city as much as possible. Whereas in larger-scale superhero games where each player may get their own corner of the universe to play with by themselves and solo-roleplay forever if they want, putting everyone in the same place will encourage (if not outright force) players to interact with each other, to keep up with what's going on in everyone else's stories and react accordingly. What one person does with Daredevil, for instance, might immediately affect what another person does with Moon Knight, whereas otherwise the two might never have a reason to acknowledge each other's existence.

While my hope is that Knights can become a long-term ongoing game, the current plan is to run it short-term as a single 'season,' with everyone's individual story arcs tying in one way or another to a single overarching plot-- in this case, the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge incident and the disappearance/presumed death of Spider-Man. If the game is a success, then upon completion of this central arc, a new one will be proposed and voted on by the players to start the next 'season.'

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Discord Server

Gamemaster: @AndyC

Expected Launch Date for IC: November 27th

Game Admission: Public; applications will be accepted or declined based on quality

Posting Guidelines: Standard Guild rules apply; Advanced Section standards are expected. Activity can be adjustable and negotiable, but barring real-world difficulties, one post per week is the general minimum expectation.

"Canonical" Standards: While Knights of New York is not based in any particular incarnation of the Marvel Universe, it is expected that players draw influence from existing incarnations. One may mix-and-match between 616 Marvel, Ultimate Marvel, Marvel MAX, the MCU, the various animated series, etc., but radically different reinterpretations or completely original characters are not permitted.

Explicit Content: While this is meant to be a darker game dealing with more mature material than the MCU, it is not an Adult/18+ game. Sex, violence, drug use, etc. are not taboo in this game, but blatantly over-the-top or 'pornographic' displays of such will not be permitted. Assume somewhere between a "Hard PG-13/Soft R" rating, or the extent on what you could get away with on a Netflix show. When in doubt, it's better to be implicit rather than explicit.

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Norman Osborn, CEO of the multi-billion-dollar science firm OsCorp, is dead. In a scandal that rocked the corporate sector, Osborn's death came moments after he was revealed to have been the criminal mastermind and terrorist lunatic known as the Green Goblin. His killer, the controversial vigilante known as Spider-Man, has not been seen in over a year, and is presumed dead from the wounds he sustained during the battle.

In the wake of Osborn's death, companies like Stark Industries, Rand International, Fisk Financial, Alchemax, and the Roxxon Corporation have been vying for OsCorp's assets, while the deceased madman's son Harry tries to keep the proverbial vultures at bay and salvage what is left of his father's empire.

The fall of the Green Goblin has also left a tremendous power vacuum in the criminal underworld. The Maggia Crime Syndicate, who had lost much territory to the Goblin, is on the rise again, as are prominent crime lords like Tombstone and Hammerhead, while smaller gangs like the Kitchen Irish and outsiders like the Yakuza and Triads mean to carve out territories of their own. As syndicates and street thugs begin to clash, assassins and hitmen are finding no shortage of dirty work, and the police find themselves overwhelmed, leaning harder and harder on the new SHIELD authorities to keep the city from breaking out into all-out chaos.

While full-scale war has thus far been avoided, New York has become a powder keg, and a new player threatens to spark things off. A mysterious and brutal new vigilante has been spotted in recent nights, ripping his way through criminal lairs and SHIELD checkpoints alike. Wearing all black and seemingly indestructible, this new player looks at first glance like the long-lost Spider-Man, but fights like a vicious animal, and thus has been given the code-name "Venom."

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Real Name: Zheng "Shang Chi"
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Powers, Abilities, and Gear: Although possessing no superpowers, Shang-Chi has a lifetime of combat training behind him and is an expert in all known forms of terrestrial martial arts, enabling him to equal and even best many superhumans. He is highly revered as the "Master of Kung-Fu.", arguably being one of, if not, the most advanced Martial Artist on earth. Although he prefers to fight empty-handed, Shang-Chi can also formidably use any martial arts weapon and is skilled at improvising weapons out of ordinary objects in his environment.

Shang's mastery of chi allows him to disperse physical trauma across his entire body (as opposed to accumulating at any single point) and strike with enough force to break through reinforced steel. On many occasions, he has also demonstrated the ability to dodge bullets from automatic weapons after they've been fired. Shang-Chi is usually seen with a pair of bracers made of an unknown material, but known to be durable enough to deflect bullets.

Shang-Chi is a master of meditation and relaxation techniques as well, allowing him to receive psychic premonitions, limit the spread of toxins in his blood stream, and render his pain receptors insensitive. While possessing no superhuman senses, Shang-Chi is highly attuned to his surroundings thanks to his training and having spent most of his life thwarting his father's assassins. He is able to pinpoint the breath sounds and heart beats of silent aggressors, as well as the distant loading of firearms by gunmen. Due to his training, Shang-Chi is also less susceptible to mental attacks than most humans.

Origin: Shang-Chi, who's name can be interpreted as "Rising of the Spirit" was born in Honan province in China, son to a wealthy international crime lord named Fu Manchu and an unknown American woman genetically selected by his father. Trained privately by the greatest masters of various disciplines, Chinese and otherwise, Shang had limited contact with his parents.

When he did see his father, his father told him that all of his training was being directed toward some sort of great humanitarian goal, as his father manipulated Shang into thinking that he was a philanthropist. When the time finally came for Shang to face the outside world and carry out this mission, he was transported to England, where his mission was assassination. He knew nothing other than to honor his father with complete loyalty, so after stealthily sneaking into his target's home, he killed who he thought was an evil man in one swift strike.

British secret agent Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith arrived on the scene in time to catch Shang, but of course couldn't keep him there. Shang later sought out his mother, now living in London, who then told him the truth about her former husbands life of crime and evil. At that time, Shang swore to become his father's enemy, and do whatever it would take to topple his evil empire.

Shang-Chi became a regular ally of Sir Denis Nayland Smith and worked with him on missions for MI-6, British intelligence, and later for Freelance Restorations, Smith's own independent agency.

Shang-Chi ultimately contributed to his father's apparent death in a confrontation at the Honan retreat. His "Elixir Vitae," which had allowed him to live and remain in his physical prime for many decades, was no longer sufficient to maintain his youth. Rapidly aging, his father needed his son's blood to restore his physical vitality. Yet, Shang-Chi wrested away the blood-filled test tube and spilled it on the ground.

His father seemed to spend his last minutes of life frantically licking it up when the retreat was demolished by an explosion set off by other aides of Smith. Shang-Chi escaped, but his father was assumed to have been killed. Due to the guilt of this loss, he withdrew from the life that he formerly knew and traveled the world to find his own path.

Recently, this has led him to the "City that Never Sleeps", New York. While originally this was a place that he was just going to be passing through, the growing level of crime and vanishing of this city's hero seems to have taken a toll. Seeing the Police of the land struggling, Shang decided to use his talents for good...


High Concept: What I plan to do for Shang-Chi's story is to bring a character that heavily questions ethics as we know them. An example would be, if you were to ask other people what's right and wrong, they may give you their definitive answers based on their perspective in life. With Shang, being that his whole life was effectively a product of deception, his answer would be that he doesn't have all of the answers. This isn't to say that he's more or less an Anti-Hero, but that he's a lighter shade of grey between black and white. Something else I'd also add on, would be the fun, classic, "Kung-Fu" movie action that Shang-Chi basically lived his entire life through.

Does this mean that there will be constant high-flying moves and exaggerated gestures? No. That aspect will be kept to a lower key, but they will be there.

Motivation and Conflict: The driving force behind the character of Shang-Chi, as I interpret it, is that of actually trying to find a purpose for himself. All the while, he'd also coping with the guilt of all the people that he hurt, stolen from, and killed in his father's name under the farce of being an agent of good. He isn't going to be all mopey about it, like Batman or something, but there will be bouts and flashbacks from time to time.
Notes: TBD


Player Name: DC the Dragon
Preferred Contact Method: PM or Discord
Why This Character?: Shang-Chi has always been a favorite character of mine when I first started getting into comics growing up. He's always been a pretty obscure character and continues to be today. So, even though I may never make it to some kind of team that handles his comics or anything like the MCU, I would like to portray his character here in some sort of consolation for a character that has made it to my Top Five out of all of Marvel's heroes.
What Can You Bring to the RPG?: What I can bring, as I've been told, is a sense of characterization. That I can get into the head of my character and actually go about things as them, instead of trying to mold them into a branch of myself.

Shang-Chi is APPROVED.

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S.H.I.E.L.D. Anomalous Activity File: SW8-0584
Entity Codename: "Venom"

Real Name: Unknown. So far, no one who has encountered the Venom entity has remained conscious for more than a few seconds, let alone long enough to attempt conversation.
Age: Unknown. Given its fairly recent emergence, it is believed that the Venom entity has only existed in its current state for less than a month. It is possible, however, that the entity has existed in one or more different states for much longer.
Gender: Unknown. Given its unusual properties, it is not certain that the Venom entity is even human, though its basic build and profile suggest a human (or at least humanoid) male as the basis for its form.
Powers, Abilities, and Gear: Unknown. So far, the Venom entity has demonstrated several abilities similar to those of Spider-Man-- superhuman strength and agility, the ability to adhere to any surface, and an almost preternatural sense of incoming danger--but the similarities end there. Venom's outer bio-mass appears to be fluid and possibly alive, able to mimic Spider-Man's synthetic webbing, but also able to change shape and turn the entity's hands into claws or blades, or harden into armor that can deflect high-caliber machine gun fire at point-blank range. By all reports the entity seems to be impervious to conventional weapons, but one unconfirmed report did mention spotting the entity retreating from fire. Further study is required.
Origin: Unknown. Some connection to the vigilante Spider-Man is likely, given the entity's appearance, as well as its emergence nearly a year to the day from the incident on the George Washington Bridge. However, at this point all theories regarding the Venom entity's exact nature and origin are baseless speculation. What is known is that the entity is claiming an increasingly large swath of territory in Brooklyn as its hunting ground, attacking criminal organizations in the area. SHIELD checkpoints have been set up in an attempt to capture and contain the entity, but have been unsuccessful-- in fact, they have resulted in several operatives critically injured. While so far no deaths have been reported in regards to Venom's activities, the entity seems to revel in the use of excessive force against its victims, often leaving them with permanent injuries or in comatose states, and has little regard for collateral damage or endangering civilians. It is advised that a way to contain or neutralize the Venom entity be found before the situation escalates further.

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High Concept: The story will start as a mystery surrounding Venom's identity and origin, and as more is revealed, it will turn to a character drama and hopefully a redemption story. At its heart, Venom has always been about different characters at their lowest point and how they deal with it, whether they overcome their inner demons or get consumed by them, and I plan on exploring that from a few different angles, from the person inside the suit and the people surrounding him.
Motivation and Conflict: Venom is lashing out, in pain and anger and frustration at its own being, amplified by the torment of its host. More than anything, it wants to be at peace, but it can never be so because the entity's very nature requires it to be at war with itself.
Notes: To be filled out as the story progresses.

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Player Name: AndyC
Preferred Contact Method: Private message or Discord
Why This Character?: Venom has been one of my favorite characters ever since I laid eyes on him, and frankly, I've wanted to tell this story for years.
What Can You Bring to the RPG?: Apart from running the game, I can bring solid character work, intricate plotting, and fun fights and/or team-ups with virtually anyone.

Real Name: Carlton Lucas
Age: 30's
Gender: Male
Powers, Abilities, and Gear: Cage has steel hardened skin and super strength.
Origin:

The story of Luke Cage can be told in verse. The early days are when his life went from bad to worse. Carl Lucas, a would be gangster working around Harlem town, working as a strongarm lackey to that Willis Styrker clown. Styrker had Harlem tight in his grasp, strangling the community with his criminal clasp. Young Luke fell for Lenore, Stryker's sweetheart. Styrker went mad with jealousy, his sanity fell apart. One day Carl was headed home when he got stopped, ya dig? It was two NYPD uniforms and a detective pig. They ran Carl in because an eyeball witness, the man said Carl was around a murder scene the night before and acting suspicious. Carl's fingerprints matched the ones on a piece, so he was arrested for murder by the police. A swift trial commenced, so fast you couldn't blink. The end result was predictable, Carl sentenced to life in the clink. Carl's heart was tortured, his spirit maimed. He knew that he was framed.

Ten years in the slammer seemed to rapidly pass, all the while outside Stryker's kingdom gained mass. Losing hope on getting out and his prospects dim, Carl decided to volunteer for a project most grim. An experiment to create the durability of a famous super-soldier ended in disaster thanks to an evil poacher. Carl lay in a science chamber, his body resting, when a vindictive guard broke in to where they were testing. The guard smashed the console and dial. The chamber began sparking, its insides filling with bile. A massive explosion rocked the prison then, a force that was like a keg of dynamite times ten. The guard, the doctor, and the whole experiment were lost in the detonation, nothing could survive that great conflagration.

Out of the fiery rubble and debris a lone figure came crawling. It was a naked Carl Lucas who ran, his own ass he was hauling. He ran into the woods to avoid any guards. Through some odd happenstance he was now out behind bars. What's more his whole body seemed unreal. The explosion hadn't hurt him, his body tougher than steel. With new powers at his command and ten years spent spurned, he set his sights for Harlem and home he did return.

Once home he started a crusade for payback, Willis Stryker and his criminal rackets were prime for attack. A new life and fresh start he had acquired. Carl Lucas was dead, believed perished in that fire. Soon after coming home he sought out his former love Lenore. He was shattered when he discovered she was no more. She had died six years back, overdosing from mainlining pure smack. He made a promise that day, for letting her die Stryker would pay. Adopting the alias Luke Cage, he tore up Harlem fueled by his powers and rage. It didn't take long for Stryker to get mad. He put out a million dollar hit for Luke Cage, man he wanted that brother reaaal bad. Cage tore trough Styrker's men like butter, setting the residents of Harlem's hearts aflutter. For a long time now they had needed a defender to help them thrive, but Cage didn't want none of that jive! He wasn't a hero to speak for the masses, he just wanted to kick Styrker and his men's asses.

Cage dispatched Styrker's men at their nightclub without breaking a sweat. They were the bad mothers, but to him they proved to be no threat. Cage finally set his sights on Styrker, that villain. The two fought each other, both intent on killin'. Stryker tried his best to fight off his former friend, but the steel skinned man was too much to defend. Desperate to kill and half crazed, Stryker decided to kill both he and Cage in a massive blaze. Up went his nightclub in a red hot spire. Nobody was getting out of that fire. If you think that's the end of this story and Cage is dead, then what the hell's wrong with your head? Out of the fire came Cage choking, unharmed and unhurt but his body smoking. While he came out of the fire okay, Stryker had been consumed in the infero's fray.

Gathered around the blazing hulk were the people of Harlem so grateful, they were glad to be rid of the crime boss that was so hateful. In the embers of the building Cage watched it burn, while a feeling inside him did churn. His vengeance was complete now that Stryker had died, but he still felt hollow and empty inside. That day Cage made a solemn vow, he would change his life and his ways somehow. From that day forward he decided to work for the people as best he could, writing wrongs and injustices in the 'hood. If you need help and your situation is dire, then you can always call Luke Cage: Hero for Hire.



High Concept: I want to tell stories about Luke Cage, Harlem, and street heroic in the same vein of guys like Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, and Ross Macdonald.

Motivation and Conflict: Cage is in business to help people. He learned the hard way what happens when you lead a bad life and wants to atone for the sins of his pass by making up for it with good deed.

Notes:

Supporting cast:

Sgt. Alex Stone -- NYPD squad sergeant and occasional ally.
Sister Mercy -- Streetwise junkie and snitch for Cage.
Franklin "Foggy" Nelson -- Local defense attorney and routine employer of Cage.
Marcus Drayton -- Harlem community activist.



Player Name: Byrd Man.

Preferred Contact Method: PM

Why This Character?: Cage is one of my favorite Marvel heroes period, and especially a favorite among the street level. Been a while since I rocked him. So, Sweet Christmas!

What Can You Bring to the RPG?: A reliable player who has been writing this character off and on for ten years and knows how to write him, at least a version of him I guess.

Real Name: Clinton Francis Barton
Age: 30-something
Gender: Male

Powers, Abilities, and Gear: Clint is an expert marksman with some level of mastery over all ranged weapons, though he strongly favors the bow and arrow. His accuracy with such is near superhuman, and he also possesses a heightened spatial awareness that allows him to make shots with incredible speed, from extreme distances, and even at odd angles. He often supplements his skill with the bow by employing various "trick" arrows. In addition, Clint has trained with various melee weapons -- most prominently the sword -- which makes him a versatile combatant. When all else fails, Clint is a competent hand-to-hand fighter with a basic knowledge of a variety of martial arts styles. Lastly, he is an Olympic-level athlete and acrobat.

Origin: Clinton Francis Barton grew up in Waverly, Iowa, always dreaming of a better life. On top of the fact that Waverly was hardly a childhood dream locale, Clint had to deal with his abusive, alcoholic father, Harold. From an early age, he learned to take a beating, a painful experience that would serve him well as he grew older. After Harold and Edith Barton, Clint's mother, were killed in an accident -- with a drunk Harold behind the wheel -- Clint and his brother Barney were entered into the foster care system. The two boys proved a lot to handle; after bouncing between foster homes, they eventually ran away and joined a traveling circus.

Two circus performers -- Jacques "Swordsman" Duquesne and Buck "Trickshot" Chisholm -- took an interest in the boys, particularly Clint. They began to train the Bartons to fight and shoot. Clint proved to be a natural with a bow and even began performing under the stage name "Hawkeye" for a time. Eventually, however, Clint discovered that Swordsman and Trickshot had been moonlighting as criminals. Worse, Barney knew of the circus' illicit activities and had even assisted as a lookout. Intending to turn them all in, Clint came to blows with Swordsman, who left him for dead. He survived, but the circus, the Swordsman, and Barney were long gone.

For the next few years, Clint was adrift. He took odd jobs here and there, never staying in one place too long. While working as security chief for Cross Technological Enterprises, Clint became embroiled in an investigation into CEO Darren Cross led by Barbara "Bobbi" Morse. Bobbi revealed herself to be an agent of SHIELD, codename "Mockingbird," and enlisted Clint's help in bringing Cross down. The two grew close, eloping shortly thereafter, and Bobbi helped Clint enlist in SHIELD. Returning to his "Hawkeye" moniker, Clint's skill helped him rise quickly through the ranks. His marriage to Bobbi eventually dissolved, but before long Hawkeye was invited to join the ranks of the Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes.

Being an Avenger proved to be Clint's true calling. Despite occasionally butting heads with his teammates -- particularly Captain America -- Hawkeye proved to be an effective asset. As time wore on, however, and the Avengers faced ever more dire threats, Clint began to doubt his worth. A farmboy from Iowa with no superpowers to speak of, Clint felt woefully out-of-place surrounded by these other giants. Recently, everything came to a head when Hawkeye went down during a mission. Needing to recuperate from his injuries, Clint took a leave of absence from the Avengers and returned to New York City. There, he heals and contemplates his place in this strange and wild world...


High Concept: If it wasn't obvious, I'm drawing heavy inspiration from Matt Fraction and David Aja's iconic Hawkeye series. What does it look like to be the most "normal" Avenger? How does that weigh on Clint's soul? This is all about taking a man who's fought alongside icons and gods and dragging him back to his roots. Stripping away the glitz and glamour and showing why Clint's resourcefulness and conviction make him every bit the equal of men like Captain America and Iron Man. If I do it right, it'll be the Marvel Netflix Hawkeye that we'll never see, the man on the ground waging a one-man war against impossible odds.

Motivation and Conflict: This is Hawkeye at his lowest point. He's been running himself ragged trying to prove his worth around the other Avengers, and now it's finally caught up to him. He'll channel his self-doubt into making a difference for the "little guys," and, in doing so, remind himself why he wanted to be a hero all along.

Notes: TBD


Player Name: Eddie Brock
Preferred Contact Method: PM

Why This Character?: I admire the Fraction/Aja run and thought it sounded like great fun to "adapt" that in a grittier, more mature setting. Take a little of the whimsy out of it and explore a Clint who's really at the end of his rope. There are just so many juicy story threads to pull if you want character-driven action, and that's what I like about him.

What Can You Bring to the RPG?: Years of play-by-post roleplaying experience, a strong commitment to characterization above everything else, and hopefully a positive presence all-around.

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Real Name: (former Detective Lieuetenant) Flint
Age: Late 50s. Too old to do anything else, too poor to retire.
Gender: Male
Powers, Abilities, and Gear: Baseline human. Police trained in combat and firearms years ago. Fortunately, this city doesn't let those skills wane. His service weapon - A Smith and Wesson Class 39 from when he came out of the academy.

...as well as a Smith and Wesson model 5906 which may have disappeared from NYPD inventory over the years when the younger rookies were coming through. These things happen.
Origin: Flint was a career cop. Scrapped early on in the Anti-Crime Unit, before being transferred early to Gang Division in the Bronx where he quickly learned the merits of legwork as he was generally kept behind the scenes. He rose up the ranks as his division grew in reputation and was succesful in his application for detective in Central Robbery, first in the Bronx and then Manhattan. His name found wider notoriety when he was the lead officer who closed a number of prominent cases in Hells Kitchen, as the suspects were apprehended unconscious whilst in the middle of another crime. What he first thought was luck, he'd soon discover in the following weeks was the work of a new vigilante who named himself Daredevil. Riding the fame and reputation again he transferred to Major Case Squad at One Polica Plaza where he would be known as a "lifer". His career arc slowed in Major Case Squad, but he learned more about te realities of crime and the police system. He rose to Detective Sargent, but became increasingly jaded (and some suspected dirty) as he fast began to turn into an old burnout, taking shortcuts and beginning to rely on playing in-house politics. This came to a peak when he met Carson Knowles; the victim of a routine B + E and softballed the investigation, since Knowles had overinsured the stolen property. Carson Knowles also happened to be running for New York City Mayordom, on a platform of law and order and planned on drastically changing the upper hierarchy of the NYPD.

Unfortunately... Knowles also happened to be moonlighting as the villain Black Spectre and was attempting to undermine the current administration's record on crime and was also blackmailing several other high officials.

As Knowles campaign beganto unravel, Flint quickly saw the changing tides and leaked evidence and his known whereabouts to the vigilante Moon Knight. The Black Spectre was apprehended and Flint's part in his arrest became public knowledge. The Mayor was re-elected and Flint was a hero.

But a hero who was not trusted by the current administratiion...

Flint was granted the promotion he was due to Lieutenant - the public would allow no less - but was transferred away to helm his own unit where he could be held fully accountable and cause no greater political trouble. A new "sweeper" unit that would come to be known as "The Freak Beat" by other officers. He supervised night shift and held rank over two other "Sargents" the Chief of Police was looking to hide, which would be sufficient personnel to uphold his rank and he'd be the butt of jokes, a symbol of ineptitude for all. The cop who babysits the capes. Keeper of the weird and wild.

And a funny thing happened...

Whilst he'd fast been plummeting towards total burnout he found that this was something that kept life interesting. Sure, a lot of the job sucked, and it felt like your hands were tied in dealing with things most people would find incomprehensible... but it was undeniable, running point on a stock standard home invasion couldn't hold your attention once you've tried to follow through on a search warrant to 177A Bleecker Street.

The gruff detective who spent far too long debriefing and getting reports from self-proclaimed heroes was actually becoming interested in the work again. He'd never admit it to anyone around - neither cape nor cop - but seeing resolution to mysteries tiers beyond the common man's ken held a great appeal... even if he most often wasn't the one closing the cases or doing all of the legwork.

It was an insane response to a man who had dealt with more craziness than most. The ticking timebomb unit that he had been made to helm, he actually enjoyed it.

The bomb's fuse ran out on April 11th, 2014, with a hostage situation on the 88th floor of One World Trade Center. No bigger stage, no greater scrutiny. Flint crossed a line. The unstable vigilante "hero" Moon Knight had allegedly attempted to resolve the situation in an overly bloodthirsty way, further traumatizing several hostages. It also came to light that Flint had knowledge of the fragile nature of Moon Knight's mental state and both enabled his own intervention in the situation as well as obstructed his arrest.

Flint was the obvious sacrificial lamb, as was inevitably going to be the case in his role at some stage. The remaining sargents were subjected to greater scrutiny with the full support of the public and both were made redundant and allowed to leave with their pensions. Flint however, would not be allowed to leave with the same financial security. Flint took a deal to leave without further charges and only a third of his pension in tact.

With no marketable skills and a paltry amount to subsist on Flint was left with only two viable options. Private security or private investigation. He took what little nest egg he had saved up and applied for his PI's license and the rent on an office in a dank building that should probably be condemned and began to run his own operation, an operation with an appetite for, and experience in dealing with, the weirder mysteries.

These are his stories.

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High Concept: I'm bringing street-level gumshoe stories with a shades-of-grey character who has a unique view of the capes and cowls who'll be finding himself in the weirder corners of the Marvel street scene.
Motivation and Conflict: I think the Origin makes this pretty clear. He needs money. He has very few options and out of the options he does have he might as well jump into a caseload he finds interesting.
Notes:
Supporting cast (or characters he's familiar with):
Moon Knight (unstable vigilante - the reason Flint has to bust his hump for a PI's pittance)
Daredevil (brighter light of justice - too effective for Flint to have many dealings with)
Carson Knowles/Black Spectre (incarcerated - not one to drop a grudge or election campaign)
This will grow significantly with time.

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Player Name: Hound55
Preferred Contact Method: PM
Why This Character?: Combines a lot of things I like. Street level characters interacting with things faaaar beyond their purview.
What Can You Bring to the RPG?: An unreliable player who dicks around, but isn't jumping in with two feet on a character you particularly care about.

Real Name:Herman Schultz
Age:32
Gender:Male
Powers, Abilities, and Gear:Herman Schultz is a self-taught engineer who uses his knowledge and skills from the school of hard knocks and getting the shit kicked out of you in high-school to maintain his iconic battle-suit that earned him the name of the 'Shocker' by the Daily Bugle. He has also touted himself to be the world's best safe-cracker, although, the veracity of this claim has yet to be proven.

Herman's battle-suit consists of two vibro-shock gauntlets and a tailored quilted full-bodied suit. His vibro-shock gauntlets, in layman's terms, act as suped-up miniature air cannons that projects a dense blast of vibrating air at high frequencies which are activated by a thumb trigger that Herman presses. The distance, the spread and the intensity of these vibro-blasts can be altered by how long Herman holds the triggers down for. There are five exponential levels of power or distinct modes of vibro-blasts that Herman has modded into his gauntlets. Level 1 is equivalent to a punch from Muhammad Ali. Level 2 is equivalent to a anvil falling from two stories high . Level 3 is equivalent to a car crash at moderately high speeds. Level 4 is equivalent to a truck crash at high speed. Level 5 is the equivalent of geting hit by a bullet-train at high speeds. Due to the vibrating nature of these blasts, large urban structures are susceptible to being collapsed. The quilted suit acts as a shock absorber to protect Herman from the dangerous recoil of activating his vibro-shock gaunlets. His quilted suit has also been padded with miniature shock units smaller in scale to his gauntlets augmented with motion detectors to go off whenever someone engages physical contact with Herman. Due to the concept of 'trip-hammer vibration', Herman's punches are roughly twelve times stronger than the average human in terms of power and impact.

Origin:The earlier parts of Herman's life could be stolen from the autobiography of any two-bit crook on the streets. Herman Schultz grew up in the Bronx to a low-income medium wage family, taking a fascination in dumpster diving for bits and bobs of recycled computer equipment when he was a boy. His parents died in a car accident when he was at the ripe age of 19, leaving Herman ,a high school drop-out,in charge of taking care of his 11 year old brother, Marty Schultz. With a lack of familial support and Herman the guardian for his younger brother. In order to provide for his brother, Herman roamed around in New York for months, taking part-time jobs working in auto-shops and fixing boats on the harbor for a means of building up enough of a welfare fund for his younger brother to go to college. Eventually, Herman found his talent for safe-cracking while working as a junkyard worker, practicing his talents on abandoned safes before joining up with a crew of criminals in Lower Manhattan as their premier safe-cracker. After years and years of working heists, Herman eventually got too big for his britches and took one job to assuage his ego, the one job that made him swear off doing risky activities ever again. Blacking out Lower Manhattan and spelling his name using the city lights, and then, threatening to black out the entire city unless he was paid a ransom.

Then, he was shipped out to and locked in General Population in Riker's Prison to serve a time of 10 years for his multiple counts of robbery, assault and B&E. Unfortunately, in hindsight, New York's Department of Corrections shouldn't have assigned Schultz to being in charge of the machine shop when he was a genius in engineering. It took over five months of gathering recycled garbage materials, wiring and scraps of metal along with patience for Herman to build his first set of vibro-blasters. With his new jury-rigged tools, he busted his way out of Riker's Prison and escaped to shore in a motorboat, causing an ensuing breakout of convicts as well.

It was only a sign of things to come.

After months of careful planning, the Shocker arrived on scene in Queens, breaking into Queens Counting Saving Bank with a cheesy quilt suit and a new and improved pair of vibro-blasters. All was going well until a certain wall-crawling arachnid came into scene and lo and behold, Herman was wrapped up like a Christmas Present for the cops and sent back to Ryker's. A rivalry would be born that day between Spider Man and the Shocker, or at least, that's what Herman likes to tell himself when he tries to ignore the reality that Spider Man doesn't even remember his name properly. Shocker's criminal history has been illustrous for a small-time crook like him. He's run joints for Tombstone and Hammerhead. He's worked alongside big boys like the Rhino and Electro at one point. Hell, he's even formed a group of like-minded B-Lister Villains like himself at one point known as the Sinister Syndicate. He's fought seventeen different superheroes. He's been arrested seventeen times. He's been convicted fifteen times. He's escaped from jail fifteen times.

What that hasn't got him is a lick of respect.

Now that Spider Man's out of the game, this might be Herman's chance to get his big score....


High Concept:
Spider Man has one of the most iconic and infamous rogues gallery in the history of comic book superheroes that's on par with legends such as Superman or Batman. They come in all shapes and forms from Doctor Octopus, to the Sandman, to Venom, to the Green Goblin and....that's probably all about any lay-man can remember. Those are the A-Listers. Then, you've got the B-Lister's like Frogman, Boomerang and the Shocker. He's belittled. He's ignored. He's the laughingstock of Spider Man's vast array of enemies. He's not the villain of a grand story arc, he's the guy that Spider Man beats up on a regular Monday morning.

Now, the name of the game's changed in New York and Herman is one of the dozens of career criminals in New York being pressured by mob bosses into joining their factions while trying to maintain his own independence. Herman's story will revolve around the common tropes of most crime dramas; an aspect I want to focus on being heist thrillers as Shocker to me, isn't a villain suited for big showdown dramas with superheroes. I also plan to use the Shocker to act as the lens into the underbelly of the criminal underworld and expand more on the politics of crime itself through his dealings with mob-bosses and other criminals.

Motivation and Conflict: A big part of Herman's motivations is trying to get some sense of respect in the villain community and yet, that conflicts with his nature of being safe and secure, by sticking to small heists with months of planning instead of trying to participate in some job that'll cause all lot of buzz but won't net him profit. With Spider Man gone, the temptation to do grander and bigger things is spurned by the offers that numerous mob-bosses are giving him to be a part of their organisation.
Notes:
N/A

Player Name:The Bork Lazer
Preferred Contact Method:PM, Discord
Why This Character?:The Shocker is a under-utilized character in the Marvel canon and Herman Schultz deserves more love. The vague nature of his backstory allows for a hell of a lot of experimentation. Let's have the B-Listers have the limelight, shall we?
What Can You Bring to the RPG?: A role-player of a year's experience who's adaptable on the fly, enthusiastic to take criticism and advice to improve myself and a positive attitude.

Oooh, I'm liking what I'm seeing, guys.

Luke Cage, Hawkeye, Flint, and Shocker are all APPROVED.

still accepting?

Yup; door's open!

Okay coo, probably gonna do X-23 is that alright, if not I'll just go Electra.

Of the two, I'd say Elektra probably is a better fit for the setting.

A wild old poster appears!

Anyway, writing up my character sheet now. I'm going way, way back for my concept. Back to the first character I ever RP'd as back on Superhero Hype.

Anyway, be back later.

*bamf*

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Real Name: Kurt Wagner

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Powers, Abilities, and Gear:
Kurt has the ability to teleport from one place to another, traveling through a parallel dimension as he does so. While Kurt's power theoretically allows him to travel anywhere he pleases, long distance jumps drain him physically. Also, without direct line of sight he runs the risk of teleporting himself into a physical object, which would kill him. Kurt's mutant physiology has also granted him incredible dexterity, a prehensile tail, and the ability to wall-crawl. Kurt is also an expert fencer, a skill he picked up during his time in the circus.

Gear-wise, he has a holographic disguise emitter, which allows him to blend in with normal looking humans when needed.

Origin:
Kurt was abandoned as a baby in Germany by parent unknown to him, presumably because of his clearly-mutant visage. Luckily, the newborn was discovered by a traveling circus. He was raised by the childless acrobats in the circus and given the name Kurt. When he was old enough, he began performing under the moniker of "The Incredible Nightcrawler". Kurt loved his time with the circus, but was forced to flee as Anti-Mutant sentiment began to sweep across the globe. He knew what he looked like, and he knew if he continued to stay with the circus, he was putting all the people he loved in danger. In the dark of the night while the circus was moving from one city to another, Kurt teleported away, leaving the only family he ever knew.

He lived in isolation in the forests of Eastern Europe for years, managing to hunt and forage for all the food he needed. His powers allowed him to survive, and he was content in his solitude.

That is, until he met Rahne Sinclair. Rahne, like Kurt, was a young mutant running from persecution to save her family. The two came across one another in the woods, and decided to join up to increase both their survival and morale. Rahne had the ability to turn herself into a wolf-like creature, which was fearsome for those who were too ignorant to see her for who she really was.

Over their months together, Kurt and Rahne fell in love, and their life together, though hard, was happy.

Unfortunately for the young couple, Kurt was spotted on one of his rare visits to the local village. Word of the "Demon of the Forest" got out, and the two were captured by a gang of mutant slavers. He was shipped to America where an unknown experiment was in his future. Rahne, however, was sent somewhere else, and Kurt had no idea where. Whispers of "hounds" came to his ear, but little else. Thankfully, before he was delivered to his final destination, Kurt was saved by the X-Men and taken to their home outside New York.

There Kurt found his place in the world, and became part of the team himself. Thanks to his powers, Wagner is invaluable as a scout for the team.

After reports of vanishing mutants began to point towards shady dealings in the volatile New York City, Kurt and his best friend Kitty Pryde were dispatched to New York City to investigate. Thanks to SHIELD's ever present eye sweeping over the city, the two were instructed to keep a low profile and merely investigate.

Whether or not they could do that and stay alive was the real question.
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High Concept:The X-Men are some of the best characters in comics, but most of their storylines aren't what you' consider small. I'd like to take some of my favorite characters from the franchise, take them out of their blockbuster domain, and stick them into a noir-style story filled with gangsters, slavers, cults, and downright bad people. Kurt and Kitty will be in the most danger they've ever been in. New York is a powderkeg ready to blow, and the citizenry and SHIELD have no desire to have mutants operating in their midst. The two Young X-Men will also be dealing with New York's criminal element, something neither of them are used to.

Motivation and Conflict: This is personal for Kurt. He himself was almost a victim of the mysterious group kidnapping mutants. He wants to know who took his friend, and, if possible, save her. Still, he knows these slavers, who ever they are, are well equipped. He doesn’t know if he and Kitty will survive this mission.

Notes:
NPCs
Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat - Kurt's best friend and teammate. The two were dispatched to NYC to investigate reports of mutant kidnapping and slave trading. The two's powers allowing them to keep a low profile was why Professor X chose them for the assignment.

Piotr Rasputin/Colossus - Kurt’s other best friend and Kitty’s boyfriend

Agent Danielle "Dani" Moonstar - A mutant and an agent in the ranks of SHIELD, Dani is Professor X's informant in New York. She is also working with the two X-Men while they are in the city.

Church of Humanity - A fundamentalist group who believes humanity is in a holy war with mutant-kind.
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Player Name: HenryJonesJr
Preferred Contact Method: PM
Why This Character?: It's honestly a throwback to my start in the RPing community. Kurt was the very first character I played as, and I saw this as an opportunity to revisit him. Plus I have a fun, noir detective-type story to tell with him.
What Can You Bring to the RPG?: An experienced player with (hopefully) a fun story to tell.

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Real Name: Elektra Natchios
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Powers, Abilities, and Gear:


Origin:

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High Concept:


Motivation and Conflict:


Notes: TBD

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Player Name:Queen (or Tay)
Preferred Contact Method: Discord, or PM
Why This Character?: I choose Elektra because she is one of the few characters to die come back to life and reinvent herself every time. Aside form the fact she is one of my favorite Hell's Kitchen characters, she has always been well rounded to me and brings a certain spice to any of the Marvel rps I have ever used her in.
What Can You Bring to the RPG?: Aside from my experience being a roleplayer (not just on guild but other sites as well), I am a avid Marvel (and DC) fan and literally live the in comics and movies. I am a nice guy, awkwardly funny and once you get to know me, most say I am pretty chill.

Digging it. Elektra and Nightcrawler are both APPROVED.

Any idea when the IC will go up?

Monday- gives everyone time to enjoy the big holiday weekend.