I want to do an RPG set in the world of DC Comics. However, while I have an idea of what I'd like to do most, I can't decide on my own what setting would be the most desirable for potential players. So I'm leaving it in your hands! Vote on the following pitches. If you like one or some elements of one pitch but would rather see it transferred to another, let me know and we might be able to hash out something. I'm flexible.
This RPG is loosely based on modern DC Comics continuity, with some leeway given in regards to strict events. The main point is that every major hero (IE: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, multiple Green Lanterns, multiple Flashes, The Teen Titans, The Doom Patrol, and others) has been around since 2010, leaving the door open for any sidekick and legacy character to be portrayed in addition to the former members of The Justice League and similar groups.
It would be largely up to the players as to who and what is considered canon, and it would expected for players within the same 'families' to work with eachother to establish set events for each corner of the DCU. Players could tell their own stories and leave interaction for set events of their own making, with any and all characters being allowed to join in once your event starts.
Emphasis would be on character interaction and world spanning team-ups and clashes, possibly even cosmic level skirmishes if the game goes on long enough. Teams and new factions could be formed, characters would be allowed to die or be killed with suitable reason and GM permission, and the characters would be allowed to be interpreted in a sort of 'catch-all' manner, meaning that you could take as much from the comics, cartoons, movies, and other sources as you want.
Villains would be NPC's and be left to related hero player discretion, though if the consensus opposes this, villains could potentially be allowed to become applicable following the launch of the game.
This RPG would be the complete opposite of Pitch 1, though alot freer in creativity. There is no real backstory, as the central premise is this: we would start on day one of the DC Universe's creation. Superman would be putting the cape on for the first time, Batman would probably only have dabbled in vigilantism, Wonder Woman might still be on the Island, Hal Jordan may have just received his ring - all of it would be primordial and very organic, heavily reliant on player interaction to create the history of these characters as they grow and develop into who they are. And the state of play would be that players would be encouraged not to rely heavily on known events from the comics, such as the JLA's formation and events like Blackest Night having to occur. This would be a brand new continuity, made up of player created events that would hopefully diverge from established canon to create something wholly unique.
I hesitate to say that this would operate in an 'Ultimate Marvel' comics fashion, where you could go out of your way to modernize every little thing for the sake of it, but the basic principle is the same. You take a well known hero's backstory, powers or abilities, and superhero identity, and from that moment, they're your's. You define what their allies, their enemies, and their personalities develop into. You would even be allowed to incorporate original characters, though it would be strongly advised to build on the DC elements before creating anything too far in the realm of fan-fiction.
Despite reliance on interaction, this would be alot looser with set rules, and stories that build into well-treaded territory would actually be discouraged - this wouldn't be a situation where any character is boxed into prior knowledge of the DCU. The only real rule would be to make yourself open to player interaction as opposed to walling yourself off to only participate your own pre-planned set of stories. Though, there would be plenty of that allowed as long as it isn't all that you're doing.
Again, players could spring up events of their own making, with any and all characters being allowed to join in once your event starts. If things get too out of hand or unwieldy, it would be up to GM discretion to come in and work with the players to achieve a desirable resolution.
Villains would be NPC's and be left to related hero player discretion. This wouldn't really change, as the entire point is for a hero player to be able to take known entities and remake them at their will, so playing another hero's villain wouldn't make sense if they have yet to set up what their version is.
NOTE: This isn't actually intended to be based on the 'Earth One' line of books, the name and images are just the closest to what the game would be in terms of what exists in a published comic. This would be a new universe.
This game would perhaps be the most strict of all, with characters being made to act as they would in a time before any of us were born. You could easily incorporate classic elements from later stories into the story that you'd be telling, such as giving Superman a bunch of his post-50's enemies or creating a 50's version of The New Teen Titans with Starfire, Cyborg, and the like, but the general idea is that you would be playing roles rather than outright defining them. You would need to make these characters recognizable, either by emulating how they acted in the Silver Age or creating a facsimile of their modern day interpretations for the 1950's.
The bigger emphasis than character interaction would be world-building. What is Metropolis like in a Post-World War II America? What about Gotham City, or Themyscira, or even the OA and the Green Lantern Corps in a time before the space age truly began? What happens when what was only believed in the funny papers, the radio, and the talkies to be real actually turn out to be science fact instead of science fiction? This would be where you come in to fill in the blanks.
Villains would be outright playable from the start, with their classic interpretations holding as much to how you could play them as a hero character. Sidekicks could also be portrayed or introduced, though that would be more reliant on the setup of the main hero characters. You could even throw a curveball and play characters like Jimmy Olsen or Ambush Bug, as long as you have a story you want to tell and think it could contribute to the creation of a strange new world.
And ...that's it. Any questions or concerns with this could be addressed, any input would be welcome and ideas would be encouraged for the RPG of your choosing. Whichever gets the most votes, if any get a vote at all, would be the game that we move forward with.
PITCH 1 - A Prime Earth-Style DC Comics RPG
Following the disbandment of The Justice Society of America in the 1970's, the world was introduced to their successor ten years ago, in the wake of an attack against the city of Metropolis - The Superman. And thus a new age of heroes began, with costumed and superpowered crime-fighters taking to the streets to fight back against the tide of criminality and injustice. Though their presence inspired almost an equal measure of deadly villains and madmen bent on world domination, hostile alien threats, magic unlike anything the world had seen, and other phenomena that has inhabited the world of mankind since The Man Of Steel's arrival, the formation of The Justice League of America has led the charge to protect Earth and even the galaxy at all costs. But when a schism splits the League apart and the world's most powerful champions go their separate ways, who will pick up their mantle for the next shift in the paradigm of superhumans? And better yet, as the world struggles with the reality of these heroes continuing to seemingly exist above humanity - should they?
This RPG is loosely based on modern DC Comics continuity, with some leeway given in regards to strict events. The main point is that every major hero (IE: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, multiple Green Lanterns, multiple Flashes, The Teen Titans, The Doom Patrol, and others) has been around since 2010, leaving the door open for any sidekick and legacy character to be portrayed in addition to the former members of The Justice League and similar groups.
It would be largely up to the players as to who and what is considered canon, and it would expected for players within the same 'families' to work with eachother to establish set events for each corner of the DCU. Players could tell their own stories and leave interaction for set events of their own making, with any and all characters being allowed to join in once your event starts.
Emphasis would be on character interaction and world spanning team-ups and clashes, possibly even cosmic level skirmishes if the game goes on long enough. Teams and new factions could be formed, characters would be allowed to die or be killed with suitable reason and GM permission, and the characters would be allowed to be interpreted in a sort of 'catch-all' manner, meaning that you could take as much from the comics, cartoons, movies, and other sources as you want.
Villains would be NPC's and be left to related hero player discretion, though if the consensus opposes this, villains could potentially be allowed to become applicable following the launch of the game.
PITCH 2 - A Earth One-Style DC Comics RPG
This RPG would be the complete opposite of Pitch 1, though alot freer in creativity. There is no real backstory, as the central premise is this: we would start on day one of the DC Universe's creation. Superman would be putting the cape on for the first time, Batman would probably only have dabbled in vigilantism, Wonder Woman might still be on the Island, Hal Jordan may have just received his ring - all of it would be primordial and very organic, heavily reliant on player interaction to create the history of these characters as they grow and develop into who they are. And the state of play would be that players would be encouraged not to rely heavily on known events from the comics, such as the JLA's formation and events like Blackest Night having to occur. This would be a brand new continuity, made up of player created events that would hopefully diverge from established canon to create something wholly unique.
I hesitate to say that this would operate in an 'Ultimate Marvel' comics fashion, where you could go out of your way to modernize every little thing for the sake of it, but the basic principle is the same. You take a well known hero's backstory, powers or abilities, and superhero identity, and from that moment, they're your's. You define what their allies, their enemies, and their personalities develop into. You would even be allowed to incorporate original characters, though it would be strongly advised to build on the DC elements before creating anything too far in the realm of fan-fiction.
Despite reliance on interaction, this would be alot looser with set rules, and stories that build into well-treaded territory would actually be discouraged - this wouldn't be a situation where any character is boxed into prior knowledge of the DCU. The only real rule would be to make yourself open to player interaction as opposed to walling yourself off to only participate your own pre-planned set of stories. Though, there would be plenty of that allowed as long as it isn't all that you're doing.
Again, players could spring up events of their own making, with any and all characters being allowed to join in once your event starts. If things get too out of hand or unwieldy, it would be up to GM discretion to come in and work with the players to achieve a desirable resolution.
Villains would be NPC's and be left to related hero player discretion. This wouldn't really change, as the entire point is for a hero player to be able to take known entities and remake them at their will, so playing another hero's villain wouldn't make sense if they have yet to set up what their version is.
NOTE: This isn't actually intended to be based on the 'Earth One' line of books, the name and images are just the closest to what the game would be in terms of what exists in a published comic. This would be a new universe.
PITCH 3 - DC Comics: The Silver Age
Following the debut of The Superman in the year 1938, each subsequent costumed hero rose up to take back America from the scourge of mad science, hostile extraterrestrials, mechanical monstrosities, and the newest, most enduring criminal act since the abrupt end of World War II in 1945 - Lex Luthor's age of the Supervillain. Set in the year 1950, this would obviously be a period piece more in line with DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. Heroes and villains would be their most classical selves, with the threat of real-world events driving the story forward in real time. While 1950 would start off with the heroes being accepted and even praised for their actions during the war and domestically, the road to 1955 and the 'Silver Age' of the DC Universe would see a change in attitude and even paranoia about what these super-beings and masked lawbreakers are capable of.
This game would perhaps be the most strict of all, with characters being made to act as they would in a time before any of us were born. You could easily incorporate classic elements from later stories into the story that you'd be telling, such as giving Superman a bunch of his post-50's enemies or creating a 50's version of The New Teen Titans with Starfire, Cyborg, and the like, but the general idea is that you would be playing roles rather than outright defining them. You would need to make these characters recognizable, either by emulating how they acted in the Silver Age or creating a facsimile of their modern day interpretations for the 1950's.
The bigger emphasis than character interaction would be world-building. What is Metropolis like in a Post-World War II America? What about Gotham City, or Themyscira, or even the OA and the Green Lantern Corps in a time before the space age truly began? What happens when what was only believed in the funny papers, the radio, and the talkies to be real actually turn out to be science fact instead of science fiction? This would be where you come in to fill in the blanks.
Villains would be outright playable from the start, with their classic interpretations holding as much to how you could play them as a hero character. Sidekicks could also be portrayed or introduced, though that would be more reliant on the setup of the main hero characters. You could even throw a curveball and play characters like Jimmy Olsen or Ambush Bug, as long as you have a story you want to tell and think it could contribute to the creation of a strange new world.
And ...that's it. Any questions or concerns with this could be addressed, any input would be welcome and ideas would be encouraged for the RPG of your choosing. Whichever gets the most votes, if any get a vote at all, would be the game that we move forward with.
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