Let's try something a little different, yeah?
Welcome to 1968, 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. In this universe, the mainstream continuities of DC or Marvel no longer apply; this is a world wholly built upon the ideas of players. Continuity that exists in this role-play is anything on the linked wiki in the information section and in the story above. We welcome you to a unique narrative opportunity to take any DC, Marvel, IDW, Image, or Dark Horse Comics character and re-imagine them in a way that makes them pleasurable for you to write unique and original stories with.
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. Have a burning desire to write The Question as a hard-nosed police detective serving a hierarchy he doesn't care for? Maybe you have a unique take on The Whizzer you wish to explore. A concept in which Slade Wilson, not a mercenary but a successful military man, struggles to become President? The opportunities are endless. As long as they have appeared in a canonical DC/Marvel/Indie tale on either the page or the screen they're free for refurbishment: here, the universe is yours to mold.
As a sandbox themed collaborative story, the keys to the universe are given to you—the player—but not without limitations or guidance. Unlike that of a linear progression-themed collaborative story, the goal of a sandbox is to allow you to craft character arcs, NPC casts, and almost assistant GM decisions that don’t contradict the other rules. The style of role-play was explained to me as an “interactive multi-author fanfiction” and the idea of this sort of concurrent thing is apt. However interaction, much like any role-play, is the bread and butter of the game; we don’t shy away from interactions, world-scale gatherings, and so forth. Our job in this role-play will be to set up events every so often but for the most part the GM Staff will do the same thing as the players in setting up our stories.
With all of that said, there is one hook and spin: this RP begins during the year of 1968, though players can choose to write a story from any year preceding it. Also, unlike previous incarnations where I took the helm with the lore; the lore is player-decided. The world is what the players make it, not some overly authoritative GM as I have been in the past. This game is public, invite-open to all.
The Guild of Assassins: A synthesis of Marvel’s Assassin’s Guild and DC’s League of Assassins, our continuity develops this secret society into pretty much what you expect. Rumored to rival the League of Shadows, the best assassins in the world are groomed for the top buyer and their own agenda; led by an obscure figure only known as The Sensei.
The Hand: An international secret society.
The Kingpin Syndicate: A criminal syndicate that is native to New York City, not much is known about the leadership or the hierarchy.
Lantern Corps: The stalwart guardians of interstellar space, The Lantern Corps have been the mediators and guardians for the galaxy for thousands of cycles. At the center of their power lies the ancient species tied into the emotional spectrum. Unlike the Nova Corps or the Darkstar Alliance who serve planetary interests, the Lanterns are not political or national—gathering their sense of law and order from beyond political interests and within moral beliefs. The Lantern Corps is comprised of four colors: green (will), blue (hope), violet (love), and indigo (compassion).
The League of Shadows: The League of Shadows is the Illuminati resurfaced and led by Ra’s al Ghul—“the Demon’s Head”, who believes through chaos the world can be reborn. The league is a secret society bent on world order through predetermined chaos, making them the antithesis to many and is one of the reasons former member Bruce Wayne left the society as he did not agree with their supposed vicious methods and philosophy.
The Society: Headed by Vandal Savage, this secret society of likeminded criminals and megalomaniacs are probably the most obscure and dangerous threat to superheroes worldwide yet.
Nova Corps: The special forces of Xandar, the Nova Corps exist to protect the interests of Xandar and its allies. Slightly comparable to the Lantern Corps, the Nova Corps travel with goals of peacekeeping and relief forces to other worlds.
The Purifiers: A group of anti-metahuman extremists rooted in fundamentalism. Some say The Purifiers are little more than far right picketers whilst others say they promote domestic terrorism in their crusade against people they deem as “mutants”.
SHIELD: Government agency originally made as a special counter-terrorism branch to combat the resurgence of HYDRA.
STAR Labs: Founded and led by Doctor Emil Hamilton, a brilliant multi-faceted scientist with expertise in genetics and engineering, STAR Labs is a scientific thinktank that has several connections with the United States government and other interest groups.
“Advanced roleplaying should focus on developing interesting and complex characters that become part of plot-lines which catch the imagination and inspire the writer behind them to exercise creativity. It is mature, humorous, imaginative, tragic, terrifying, passionate, and rife with descriptive language and characters with real personality and relatable cares. Quality posting is far better than needless novels, yet one should never neglect detail when one feels the need. However, while word and paragraph requirements ought to be unnecessary, single paragraphs cannot contain enough detail to suffice.”
Generally, the idea here is a simplified version of any sort of rules since we are “veteran” members of RPG and we pretty much know the big rules; follow the host site’s rules, communicate, collaborate, and don’t be antagonistic towards others. CS reviews aren’t going to be very strict, but to have a reference sheet is important——it doesn’t have to be extremely detailed; you could use bullet points to sum it up or just use brevity to get to the bulk of posting and telling the stories you want to tell. Legacy rules still apply for the most part, but if a parent character is absent just communicate what you want to do and let’s work together to make it happen.
Below are a set few rules guidelines to play by:
- You may choose any character appearing in the continuities that envelope certain frames of western comic books, though the core of the game is DC/Marvel. You can include aspects of the Bruce Timm continuity, Wildstorm, the Cinematic Universe(s), and so forth. Characters from Dark Horse, Image, IDW, and Archie are acceptable.
- Travel involving time, dimensional multiverses, or any other concepts would be on a GM-approved basis.
- Please do not kill player-created characters or important NPC’s unless given the go-ahead to do so or are within your right to.
- Do not impose on arcs without asking for permission; don’t jump into a scene for the sake of interaction; your characters should have sufficient reasoning to want to be in a cooperative scene and noting that— do be courteous and respectful about approaching or possibly interfering in character arcs. While this is more a suggestion then a rule, we should be courteous to those who are planning arcs. Communication is the key.
- Respect the GM staff and their authority.
- Be creative.
- Notes are an optional and malleable part of your CS’s – just because someone has plans for Harvey Dent as the Batman player does not mean I can’t retrofit those plans to accommodate your interest in playing that character or characters related to them. Notes should be used as guides and pre-cautionary plans or pre-established lore points and do not mean to rule the role-play by disallowing concepts. Again, communicate.
- Legacies (NPCs, sidekicks, rogues) fall under the jurisdiction of the hero they are traditionally designed around. If you want to play The Joker, The Batman player has to be okay with it and your information should never contradict what they have written in their CS. This one is malleable, but again— communicate.
- No post should be made that contradicts the host website's rules, so keep those in mind.
- Activity will be left vague as social obligations such as employment, academics, and so forth take precedent over a shared hobby. But we should at least have a post for every fifteen to thirty days. Obligations will be reminded by the staff, but this is a low stress endeavor so we shouldn't feel the need to make extreme demands regarding this.
The following will allow you to apply for a character in 1968. Be sure to fix HR tags by removing the space in their coding. All applications should be posted in the OOC.
[center][b][h1][color=CHARACTERCOLOR]H E R O N A M E[/color][/h1][/b][b]Civilian Idenity[/b], AGE (b. 19XX)
[i][sub]Vigilante based in LOCATION
Active since approximately SEASON YEAR[/sub][/i]
[img]characterimagehere[/img][/center]
[ hr ][ hr ][center][img]i.imgur.com/q71wVxn.png[/img][/center][ hr ][ hr ]
[color=999999]This is where you outline your vision for the character including any notable changes or differences from the regularly accepted canon. Ideally this can also include hints towards plot directions and potential arcs for your character.[/color]
[ hr ][ hr ][center][img]i.imgur.com/rOBXEpI.png[/img][/center][ hr ][hr ]
[color=999999]Additional notes, supporting cast, and the whole shebang. Optional, but also useful.[/color]
[ hr ][ hr ][center][img]i.imgur.com/LfmRe9C.png[/img][/center][ hr ][ hr ]
[color=999999]List previous posts for reference of your writing ability. Important.[/color]
In short your CS should look like this:
If you have any questions on the formatting, I suggest looking at my personal CS's for guidance.