The New Age of Heroes is a recent concept in the DC Universe where it seems the publisher has taken to introducing new teams and heroes with striking similarities to some of Marvel’s stable of characters. Sideways is very much inspired by the teen angst and early adventures of Spider-man; Damage is DC’s answer to the Hulk; Brimstone is all about a curse and horrific powers ala Ghost Rider; and the Terrifics are a new team of existing heroes with similarities to the Fantastic Four. To get to the RP, we’re basically taking another Marvel concept and spinning it into the DCU. This won’t be my usual alternate universe with a Batman in an exo-suit, or Kingdom Come inspired Superman, this is pretty much what’s considered standard. Each concept brings a little something different to the table with a few caveats here and there. With most of the concepts, save for Thunderbolts, two characters can be stand-ins from the DCU. For example Doc Fate could be a stand in for Doc Strange, Sideways could be used for Nightcrawler, or Damage could be used in place of the Hulk. Now along with the aforementioned Thunderbolts, here are the ideas for the different concepts to give the NAoH make-over.
All New Outsiders (X-Men) – The idea here is most of the group were clones/experiments in Cadmus who escaped at roughly the same time. Their powers in part would be derived from the DNA of known meta-humans. Anything beyond that would be determined based on any DCU stand-ins if anybody went that route. Characters will be based on Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Banshee, Sunfire, Thunderbird, Nightcrawler, and Colossus as well as one random mutant.
Sentinels (Defenders) – Their first adventure comes in the form of Ragman’s Suit of Sorrows taking over a small town with the evil souls of each rag possessing the townsfolk. Characters will be based on the two most popular incarnations of the team combined: Dr Strange, Hulk, Silver Surfer, and Namor, with Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones/Jewel, and Luke Cage.
The next two ideas aren’t as character specific but more or less just the overall concept of what we would readapt. Remember you don’t have to copy something note for note based on powers, you can simply have the character traits of the characters you’re using for inspiration. Like Storm has the weather powers, but in Africa was seen as a goddess. You could take the mortal being seen as a god idea rather than the powers.
The Vanguard (Thunderbolts) – Players will choose cannon DC villains to reimagine as heroes for a dastardly scheme that some of them may have a change of heart about. How cool was it when the original Thunderbolts were revealed as the Masters of Evil? Who will reform and try to do what’s right? The plot point I was thinking about for making Thunderbolts easier to reimagine is physical DNA altering nano-machines to turn monsters like Parasite and Solomon Grundy into more regular sized heroes if players want/need a mcguffin.
Guardians of the Unknown (Guardians of the Galaxy) – What lies beyond the now broken Source Wall on the edge of space? Unknown and outrageous galaxies, uncharted space sector after sector, and this group of outlaws who are glad to be alive after drifting through the broken debris in hypersleep. Players will base characters loosely on the GotG (Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot, plus one). Several cannon alien races to base characters on can be found in the Legion of Superheroes comics as well as the Green Lantern Corps comics or you can just create your own. I’ll go ahead and say some of the better Ben10 aliens can be cannon as well since DC has snuck in a few like Four Arms in the background.
From the handful or so of folks I’ve talked to about this, the X-Men seem to be the most popular concept. However I’ll leave it up to you guys what we go with in the end. I’ve already got characters in mind for every concept except for the Vanguard. Five players plus myself is all we’d need to get one of these rolling… I'll post a CS template if there's enough interest.
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