Greetings, True Believers, and welcome once again to the fantastic, amazing, incredible, uncanny, and otherwise superlative world of Marvel! Once again, the forces of evil are plotting to throw the world into chaos and turmoil, and once again it falls upon Earth's Mightiest Heroes to stop them! (You'd think that with a team like the Avengers around, the bad guys would think twice about terrorizing the planet, but think again! ) A shadowy Mastermind, lurking behind the scenes, has concocted a diabolical Master-Plan to destroy our heroes, and with that, a new adventure begins. It'll have action, excitement, danger, monsters, mystery, mayhem, and much, much more! And best of all, it's all starring YOU!

So suit up, Avenger, and get ready, because the fate of the world itself is in your hands! It's up to you to unmask the mysterious Mastermind, confound his catastrophic Crises, and stop his Master Plan before it's too late! We're all counting on you, pal. EXCELSIOR!

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Avengers: Heroes United is a Casual 'tabletop-lite' game structured around a team of heroes pitted against a villainous Mastermind (played by the Gamemaster). Like in a murder-mystery RP, the Mastermind's identity is secret, and it is the heroes' job to expose and defeat them, while the Mastermind engineers various Crises to make the heroes' job more difficult.

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General Rules:

• Players can apply for one existing hero from the Marvel Universe. Original characters are not allowed, and drastic revisions of existing characters will require special permission from the GM and are generally discouraged.
• This game plays fast-and-loose with the Marvel canon, with the only major rule being that characters and history should be from one official interpretation of the 'main' Marvel universe. This can be the 616 Comics, Ultimate Marvel, the MCU, the Fox or Sony movie-verses, the various animated series, etc. Explicitly alternate timelines like MC2 or the various Spider-Verse universes do not count.
• Standard Guild rules apply in terms of posting etiquette. God-modding, abusive posting, and excessively explicit content will not be permitted. Play nice, respect each other, and have fun!

Gameplay-Specific Rules:

• The game world has a predetermined Stability Level, which is threatened by Crises perpetrated by the Mastermind. If this Stability Level reaches zero, the world collapses into anarchy and the game ends.
• The Mastermind has a set Threat Level, a pool of resources they can spend to throw Crises at the Heroes. Each Crisis has its own Threat Level, depending on how many points the Mastermind spends from their own Threat pool, and takes away a corresponding amount of points from the world's Stability Level if it goes unresolved. A Threat Level 1 would be something minor like a simple bank robbery, while a Threat Level 20 might be a cosmic incursion from Galactus. The Mastermind can have up to three Crises going at any one time.
• A Crisis's Threat Level equals the amount of unique posts the heroes have to write before the Crisis can be considered resolved. Each post must contain the character making a genuine effort to either resolve the Crisis or at least mitigate its side effects (panicked crowds, falling debris, etc), and should be roughly between three and ten full paragraphs. The heroes have one real-world day per each point of Threat Level to resolve the Crisis (a Threat Level 7 Crisis, for example, has a real-world time limit of one week to resolve). Upon the resolution of a Crisis, the heroes will gain a clue towards the Mastermind's identity.
• During a Crisis, the Mastermind may choose to make the heroes' jobs more difficult by posting an Interrupt. This is a complication caused by the Crisis-- an out-of-control train, a crashing airplane, etc.-- that the heroes must divert attention from the main Crisis to resolve immediately. Resolving an Interrupt does not count towards the amount of posts needed to resolve the Crisis, but if the Interrupt is not resolved, 1 point is taken from the world's Stability Level. The Mastermind can only play Interrupts equal to the amount of clues the heroes have already collected.
• The game ends when either the heroes expose and defeat the Mastermind, or the world's Stability Level reaches zero, allowing the Mastermind to complete their own master plan.

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Example:

The Mastermind hires Bullseye to assassinate a high-profile target at the UN Building in New York; this is designated a Threat Level 5. Captain America, Spider-Man, and Black Panther respond, and over the course of two days, they write three posts, where Cap and Panther engage the assassin while Spidey works crowd control.

Meanwhile, the Mastermind stages a heist at the Triskelion in Washington, DC, designating it a Threat Level 2. Hawkeye and Black Widow both investigate, quickly putting up two posts to search the SHIELD facility for signs of the intruders. With this Crisis quickly resolved, they gain a clue-- namely, that the Mastermind sent the intruders to steal the original schematics for Vision-- but this also gives the Mastermind an Interrupt.

Back in New York, the Mastermind uses this Interrupt to have Bullseye shoot out a lighting fixture, which threatens to fall on a group of diplomats. Black Panther has to break away from the fight to save the endangered civilians, while Cap gets in a fourth post to continue the fight with Bullseye, until finally Spider-Man chimes in with a fifth and final post to web the mercenary up. The heroes interrogate Bullseye, who gives them their next clue: that whoever the Mastermind is, he isn't human.

(In this instance, it would eventually be revealed that the Mastermind is Loki, and he is trying to recover the Mind Stone to reform his staff)

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Player Name: (Provide whatever name or handle you wish to be called)
Character Name and Alias: (Provide both the character's hero name and their civilian identity, so players may distinguish which incarnation of the character is being used)
Origin and Brief Bio: (Provide one paragraph summarizing the character's origin and the highlights of their career up to this point)
Powers and Abilities: (Describe what the character can do)
Brief Sample Post: (Provide between two to five complete paragraphs showcasing how this character would be in action)

Player Name
Master Bruce

Character Name and Alias
Peter Benjamin Parker, a.k.a. The Amazing Spider-Man

Origin and Brief Bio
Bitten by a genetically altered spider on a class field trip 10 years ago, teenage science prodigy Peter Parker soon discovered that the arachnid had transferred it's relative abilities onto his DNA. From finding himself scaling walls as easily as he could walk to lifting objects more than twice his size, Peter was overtaken with joy at living a science fiction fan's dream, comparing his experience to Kafka's "The Metamorphisis".

But rather than use his powers for the good of others, Parker had to learn the hard way that the path of virtue was the path best taken, as his foolhardy attempts to gain fame and fortune led to the escape of an eager mugger shuffling past him to get away. That mugger would later take the life of Peter's beloved Uncle Ben, making him directly responsible. And so he learned that with great power, there must also come great responsibility - the resulting lesson transforming him into the masked crimefighting superhero known as Spider-Man.

In the decade since Peter's life-changing transformation, he's seen his fair share of adventures - from battling egomanical and superhuman enemies like Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin, The Vulture, The Rhino, and Mysterio, among others, to suffering his fair share of further tragedy with the deaths of girlfriend Gwen Stacy, best friend Harry Osborn, and Gwen's father, Captain George Stacy. And having also seen some bizarre further transformations occur as a result of his powers - from bonding to an alien symbiote that briefly enhanced his powers before realizing it was trying to control him to accidentally turning himself into a giant a six-armed mutant spider, it's safe to say that Parker's life experience has varied compared to others.

Now at 25, Peter's finally managed to hanker down and maintain a stable balance within his dual personas. Having recently become engaged to his college girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, Peter spends his days as a website editor and occasional photographer for The Daily Bugle, getting chewed out by his maniacal boss J. Jonah Jameson, looking after his aging Aunt May, and occasionally throwing his fist into the face of a madman made of sand and/or electricity. But he's started to wonder... has a life of being Spider-Man started to take it's toll?

Powers and Abilities
The superhuman strength, reflexes, and agility proportionate to that of a spider, a sixth sense that warns him of impending danger, and the ability to stick to most surfaces. Gifted with a highly scientific mind, Peter also invented a pair of wrist-mounted web-spinners that he uses for a variety of purposes.

Brief Sample Post

"Boy, there's just nothing I love more than being rained out on a swing home!"



I grumble to myself as the rain, almost as if the universe itself is sensing the wedgie building up between my soaked tights, begins pouring down to Biblical proportions over 5th Avenue. On a Wednesday afternoon. Funny enough, I checked the weather on my phone as I was leaving for work this morning. Sunny skies! Not a cloud in them! High of 87!

Now I know how the Yankees feel. Except, you know, I've probably got a better shot of winning the championship than them. Blindfolded, with one hand tied behind my back and no powers. They suck, is what I'm saying to myself. Why am I saying this to myself?

"Because I'm a sad little man with an inferiority complex."

Aunt May always used to tell me to think of all the best things in my life on days like this, where it's not so much raining cats and dogs as dumping entire buckets of zoos onto the rooftops ahead of me. She used to tell me, "Peter, for every rainy day in life, you get to enjoy years of sunshine."

Probably a good time to note that she's never had to get into fights people who can actually control the weather, but hey, I'm just internally venting here. Poking my hand out infront of me in a vain attempt to see if it's somehow calmed in the forty seconds since I started on the Yankees analogy, I pull back my glove to look at my watch. Mary Jane wanted to see a movie tonight, and I said sure, as long as it's a matinee showing. Looks like someone's paying full price for sticking his foot in his mouth.

"Who am I kidding? That's practically my side career!", I say to myself, preparing to fire out a webline to brave the storm. "Eh, well. At least no matter what, I'm having a better day than Sandman."

Just as I say that, the distinct sound of an explosion rings out across Manhattan. My Spider-Sense buzzes loud enough to cause me to jump out from under my perch, somersault upwards, and land on the scaffolding above.

"Yikes! I think I liked it better when the rain was my enemy..."

With alarms blaring from what appears to be the Fifth National Bank, I sigh to myself and briefly consider sending MJ an apology text. But then I remember that I don't have my phone. Because I'm wearing wet, skintight underpants that can barely even hold spare change.

"Whelp, Parker. You wanted a change of pace from a lousy rainy afternoon."

Firing off a webline, the rain becomes something of a pelting series of windy scratches, as I sour high into the air and begin to fire another. Aunt May would be proud of me, because I am starting to think positively.

"Can't say you never get what you want."

Player Name:Byrd Man

Character Name and Alias: Howard the Duck

Origin and Brief Bio: A resident of a world where the people are normal people, except only ducks, Howard was was sent into the human universe through some extra-dimensional shenanigans. Exiled from his home dimension, Howard lives among the hairless, ape people of the world and moonlights as a private eye.

Powers and Abilities: He knows Quack-Fu.

Also,

...

...

Does a corckscrew penis count as a power?

Brief Sample Post:


Lower Westside Manhattan
Near where that one deli makes a really good open faced sandwich...
Not that one! The other one. You know which one I mean! The one where Amanda..
Ohmygod, I'm just supposed to be giving the location of the scene! I am so sorry! This is my first post writing these things, so I apologize!

Howard waddled down the New York sidewalk with his prospective client. The occasional onlooker threw a strange look his way. Even in this world of superheroes and mutants, a talking duck was a bit of an oddity to these people. Howard was used to it. He lived here among these hairless ape folks for years now. They weren't far removed from the caves of their ancestors, but there was the occasional good one. Ming Hou seemed to be one of those good ones.

"It might be tricky, Mr. Hou, but I think I can help you recover your wife's stolen necklace," Howard said to the tall, lanky Asian man who walked by his side. "But I don't come cheap."

"I have no money, Mr. The Duck."

"... Okay. I'll come cheap."

Hou's eyes lit up and he hugged Howard hard and tight around the shoulders. Howard tried to fight against Hou's grasp, but gave up.

"Why do you smell like buttered bread?"

"It's my cologne," Howard said, shrugging out of Hou's hug. "Poppy Seed Roll by Calvin Klein. It drives the hens wild, or so I've been told."

Hou arched an eyebrow at Howard. "Okay... thank you again for taking my case, Mr. The Duck."

"Please, Mr. The Duck was my father. Call me Howard, and thank you for seeking me out. I have so few clients, and I'm glad that you made the right decision to choose me because I stand for professionalism, dedication, and--"

"Heroes for Hire cost too much," Hou said. "Everyone says to find the duck, he works dirt cheap. Peanuts. He works for peanuts."

"Waugh!" said Howard. "You do one lousy job for the circus and everyone can't stop talking about it. Humans, what a bunch of cheapskates. I'll find your stolen necklace, Mr. Hou, and... I'll be taking all my coffee breaks on the clock! That's right, buster, that'll teach you!"

Howard stalked away, more of a fast waddle given his webbed feet, away from his new client and disappeared into the busy New York foot traffic in a huff.

Went ahead and rescinded the "they have to be current or former Avengers" rule because, well, Howard the Duck is too damn good not to include.

Hey, maybe in this universe Howard has been an avenger?!

Went ahead and rescinded the "they have to be current or former Avengers" rule because, well, Howard the Duck is too damn good not to include.

Whoops. Didn't read the rules too thoroughly. My bad.

<Snipped quote by AndyC>

Whoops. Didn't read the rules too thoroughly. My bad.

S'cool, I kinda added that in between the interest check and the OOC thread without telling anyone, because in the moment I figured it'd be better to keep the game focused on the one team. Buuuut, given that the latest Avengers movie also featured the Guardians of the Galaxy and that the Defenders are still a thing, it's probably better not to pigeon-hole folks.

Besides, Marvel has a lot more crossover between teams than DC, so it's a lot easier for one of the X-Men or whatever to hang out with the Avengers than it is to have, say, the Doom Patrol jumping in on a Justice League mission.

Player Name: HenryJonesJr

Character Name and Alias: Steven Rogers/Captain America

Origin and Brief Bio:

Scrawny Steven Rogers was transformed into Captain America during WWII, fighting against the Nazis and HYDRA. During his final confrontation with the Red Skull, he was lost in the Arctic Ocean.

Eventually, he was discovered by SHIELD and thawed out. He resumed his service with SHIELD, eventually teaming with the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, to take down Loki and his Chitauri army in New York. The team has become a cohesive unit, and has saved the Earth from countless threats.

Along with teammates Black Widow and Falcon, he recently foiled a HYDRA plot to infiltrate SHIELD and use helicarriers to murder millions. In the process, he discovered his old friend, Bucky Barnes, is now the assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Cap now searches for his friend in hopes of saving him, taking down HYDRA one step at a time.

Powers and Abilities: Cap has enhanced strength, speed, agility, dexterity, and endurance thanks to the super soldier serum. Steve is also a master of hand-to-hand combat, as well as a brilliant strategic mind. Captain America’s vibranium shield also allows him an incredibly versitle weapon and defensive tool.

Brief Sample Post:

“Mark,” Steve Rogers gave the order. From above him, he saw Sam’s drone, Redwing, shatter a fourth floor window, followed by the Falcon himself swooping in and opening fire on the HYDRA agents inhabiting the building. From street level, Captain America himself sped towards the front door of the compound on his motorcycle. When he within 10 yards, he lept off, and the vehicle slammed into the door, battering it open.

Enemy fire from three gunmen bounced off his shield as he rushed through the door himself. The first HYDRA soldier that made the mistake of getting close to him ended up with a shattered jaw after a vicious uppercut. His SMG fired wildly at his allies, causing them to dive for cover, giving Cap an opening. After a quick glance around the room, he tossed his trusty shield. The vibranium disk clanged off the back wall, smacked into the soldier behind a desk, before ricocheting into his friend huddled behind a column. The shield floated back to him, and he caught it deftly, “Sam, report?”

“Package is secure,” Falcon responded over the sound of gunfire. “Fourth floor. I could use some help with extraction.”

Steve began making his way towards the fourth floor, taking down any HYDRA soldier that bothered to get in his way. Cap had been fighting HYDRA for longer than he remembered. First as the protector of the American people, and then as an agent for SHIELD. But now it was personal. They had destroyed Bucky’s mind and turned him into their slave. He’d never let them live that down. Eventually, he found his target, with Sam and the package waiting for him on the fourth floor.

“Took you long enough,” Natasha Romanoff said and tossed Cap a flash drive. “It’s all I could get. My mask shorted out after a day. We need to talk to tech about that.”

“Yea well, at least you’re okay,” he smiled at his teammate and turned the drive around in his hand. This was what could lead him to his friend, and would give him the opportunity to really put the hurt on those that would use him for evil. “Every known HYDRA base. And hopefully the leads to take us to Bucky.”

Lookin' good.

Player Name: Hound55

Character Name and Alias: Manifold / Eden Fesi

Origin and Brief Bio: Little is known about his youth. Eden Fesi now resides at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), a place of deep significant spiritual meaning to him and the mutant Gateway; who tutors him in his powers. Eden has been tapped to one day have great impact in global events and both he and Gateway are trying to prepare him for the day this recruitment occurs. The present day.

Powers and Abilities: Manifold is primarily a teleporter who performs this ability by bending reality itself; by folding and contorting spacetime to connect two places using portals. Much like Gateway his portals remain open until he chooses to close them. Unlike some teleporters like Nightcrawler he doesn't need to see where he's teleporting to as this folding of space-time allows him to compensate and ensure he doesn't open a portal in the middle of an object.

He is also a quality tracker, able to survive by himself in harsh environments such as the Australian outback, proficient with early weapons like clubs, throwing sticks, bola, bow and arrow and spears. He is a moderately effective in hand to hand combat, but nothing particularly special in that regard.

Brief Sample Post:

I'm there.

It's a Saturday afternoon at Subiaco Oval, standing room only and Nic Naitanui is lining up for goal from outside the 50 metre arc against Collingwood. The final horn has gone and there's a Four'n'Twenty pie in my hand. I can hardly watch in excitement...

It skews off Nic-Nat's boot. I sigh. The pie falls.

I'm there.

Before meat and pastry even sully the concrete in Perth's stadium I'm standing amongst gum trees on the eastern seaboard.

A private Wolfmother concert is taking place on Russell Crowe's estate. It's night time and I'm rocking out to Andrew Stockdale's guitar and vocals as "Mind's Eye" hangs on the night's air.

"Excuse me, sir? Do you have an invitation?"

I turn and see a man in a suit, wearing an earpiece and sunglasses at night.

"Aww yeah, mate. Sorry. I'm one of Rusty's rugby players. He gave us each an invite on the off chance we couldn't play down in Melbourne tomorrow..." I fumble behind me for the "invitation", he becomes less distracted by the words and more interested in the strange light that's being produced behind me.

"...see I wrecked my finger in training. Ah! There it is!"

I step back towards the light source.

"It was this one! Sit and spin, dickhead!" I show him the middle digit, grab my crotch and fall away from the scene, letting my final words "YOU GUYS ROCK!" hang in the air, called by a man who isn't there.

I'm there.

I sit from a distance and watch the sunset across Uluru. I like to catch this every day. I never watch the sun go all the way down though. Kata Tjuta is about 25 clicks to the west and I like to race the sun and watch it finally fall from there. Music still hangs in my ears as I smile, I caught enough of the air that the sound waves were travelling through and second hand drums and guitar cross not just my own mindscape but the physical plane as well.

A perfectly captured moment.

I watch as the sun winks below the sandstone monolith. It's edge ever so slightly obscured to one side.

My hands dance and reality sings.

I'm there.

I see the old man hovering. I look upon the mighty rocks. We perch upon the Mount like old Wanambi whose breath could forge cyclone-force winds. New protectors of this sacred earth.

I look upon the sun and once again it is winking, as it falls below one of the colossal stones. It's not the only thing winking. He approaches. The spy.

"It's time."

I look back to my elder, Gateway.

"Not him. Just you. You're an Avenger now."

His name is Fury. His stern face doesn't show any right now but i could absolutely believe that plenty lies beneath the surface. Hidden. Like much in this man's life.

I turn to farewell my elder but find him gone. The sound of his laughter hanging on the open air. Carried by the winds Wanambi, the protector of the past can control. Fury feels uncomfortable, but he doesn't understand. He's sending me this message by Wanambi's means to tell me that I'm ready. A perfectly captured moment.

I hope I prove the old man right.

Spidey, Tony, Cap, and Howard are all APPROVED.

I had to wiki Manifold to see who the heck he is, but he looks good to go once you include a sample post.

Spidey, Tony, Cap, and Howard are all APPROVED.

I had to wiki Manifold to see who the heck he is, but he looks good to go once you include a sample post.

One of Hickman's creations.

<Snipped quote by AndyC>

One of Hickman's creations.

Ah, gotcha. I figured he was new; I'm woefully behind the times on Marvel's actual comics.

I'd like to apply for Thor. I can pull something together in the following week. Getting a new laptop so I can rp reliably.

I can rp reliably.

Can you?

Considering Carol or Wanda.

awww hell...talk about getting the band back together....I may just have to figure out who I want to play....

awww hell...talk about getting the band back together....I may just have to figure out who I want to play....

Jesus, when was the last time you dusted off a canon character, Nite?

awww hell...talk about getting the band back together....I may just have to figure out who I want to play....

<Snipped quote by nitemare shape>
Jesus, when was the last time you dusted off a canon character, Nite?

I think the last time was Venom in the old OU over on Hype