“They said I could be anything, so I became everything.”
Hello and welcome to this RP, “A New Generation of Gods”. This RP is the first section of a long series of stories I have written that revolve around a “thing” which is referred to as the H.O.P.E. System, with the characters eventually working to discover what the H.O.P.E. System and its various pieces actually do, what they’re meant to do, the purpose of them, and who or what created the System and its various Engines. None of that will likely matter for this RP, as it would have to go on for quite some time before any of that is ever touched upon as more than a passing reference. This first story focuses on the Creation Engine of the H.O.P.E. System and the consequences of its functions. If you want, just ignore that and go in thinking “superheroes!” you’ll still be fine.
The scene opens in a mid-sized city in New York state (please suggest a name if you want, of I will for the IC), and on the outskirts of this city is a complex of schools. An elementary, middle, and high school sit next to one another, with a small college just a short distance away. Ten in the morning on a Tuesday, modern times, a bright light fills the sky. A falling star streaks over the city, crashing to Earth right in the middle of the school complex. But it doesn’t. There is no sign of it. It, and over a dozen individuals who had just been going about their day in and around the schools, has simply vanished.
The taken find themselves lying on their back in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by trees. Those with watches can see that no time has passed from when they were taken to when they find themselves in the clearing. Only one person seems to know what’s going on: a boy who couldn’t be old enough to be a teenager wearing a strange green cloak.
It isn’t long before those taken exhibit impossible new powers, no two the same. The boy encourages them to learn to use these powers, training them and watching them. He is their teacher and their abductor, keeping them captive and keeping them safe. But he won’t always be there. Will these new gods be ready for the world, and will the world be ready for them? Conflict is inevitable, between gods and gods and between gods and man.
So if you want the short and concise version of what this RP will be, it’s basically a superpower RP with some twists. Though I call the characters gods, they are still mortal, and they can be killed by just about anything that would kill your average Joe. Besides their power, they are completely normal. They feel pain, get tired, are as strong and fast as a regular person, and don’t suddenly become smarter.
Your powers begin simple and weak, but they will grow and evolve as you use them. A note to keep in mind is that though your character can control the power, the power is separate from the character. An example of what I mean using telekinesis as the power: If the power was solely controlled by the character’s mind, and surprise attack would easily incapacitate or kill the god. But with the power acting without its god’s input, it will often react on its own. Say a telekinetic superhero was on the wrong end of a sniper’s scope. Bang, no more telekinetic. Same situation but with a god, that bullet is stopped before the god even knows he’s been shot at. The powers’ first instinct is to protect their god. In this way, the god less controls their power as asks it to do what they want it to. Situations may arise where a power refuses to do what it’s willed to do, and I will get involved at that time. I don’t foresee it happening often, so as a player you can simply play god with your power and not worry about it. Should this RP survive into the second story arc, this distinction will be expanded upon.
Everyone begins the first day a normal person doing normal things that end with them somewhere in or around the school complex at 10:00 AM when the shooting star hits. There will be an event shortly after that where the majority of the cast will first see their power. It’s possible that your character won’t show any power right then, but I’m sure my character, the boy, will force it out soon enough. On that note, I will be playing the boy mainly, and a few other characters like him. Individuals that are powerful enough to make the player-controlled gods pee themselves will only be controlled by me and will be used to move the main story along in the background of what the gods are doing, in addition to occasionally keeping the peace when things get out of hand, the word peace being used very loosely in this context. There will be a list of these characters updated as information about them comes out.
In the beginning, all of the god characters will be confined to a large underground bunker as the boy teaches them about their power and just observes them. This will be the time to interact with each other and make friends and enemies. Keep in mind though, you are being held against your will at this time. How long your character will be confined can change depending on how fast people post and how fast I can advance the days, but I expect it to be a little while as this time sets up for the entirety of the rest of the story. I may PM individuals on things I would like them to influence, so keep in mind that I am trying to steer events at most times from behind the scenes. There will be two storylines going on, the character-driven one following the gods that will take up 95% of the RP, and the background story about the origins of said gods. How often these storylines become entangled depends on you and your gods’ actions.
Once the gods are released into the wild and my overseer conveniently vanishes for a period, things will become more violent. (You're free to attempt to kill each other or yourself even before then, but my character may intervene then.) Tiny disagreements can turn into reality-warping battles between two gods, and the military will get involved as the gods are seen and become known. Maybe you go visit your family that you couldn't see because you were abducted and thought dead by the world, only to be ambushed by fighter jets and tanks, or maybe an enemy god is there waiting for you. Shit will really hit the fan when word gets out that so many gods existing at once is causing reality to break apart. Is that incentive to go on a killing spree I see? Why yes, yes it is. It’s also one of the incidents where the two storylines become overlapped.
In this RP, you can die. I fully expect many characters to die. For that reason, I will allow people to have multiple characters, probably three max to begin. Death isn't always final for gods. Some gods, should they die at specific times or in specific ways, come back as something different. These are special cases, and if you find yourself in a situation where this is an option I will make you aware of it. There will also be a point in the second arc, should the RP make it that far, for new gods to be introduced. I would ask those already involved in the RP to fill those roles before opening it up to some new players.
It's basically a character-driven super RP where everyone slowly becomes OP or dies off. PMs and collabs would be used to give each player information specific to their character and deepen interactions, and any direct conflicts between players would be done in collab with me overseeing the power creep. All I have left to say is probably the most important thing for those who think they might be interested in joining: You make your character, but you don't choose your power. I will look at your character and accept or deny them, but you won't know what power they have until the event where each character finds out at roughly the same time. If you are uncomfortable with that not knowing or the possibility that you might get what you see as a "useless" power, then thank you for reading and I'm sorry to see you go. Not all powers will be created equally, and some will be more offensive or defensive than others. The only influence you have over what powers your characters get is two sections that will be on the CS where you list the top three powers you think would go with the character and the bottom three you think wouldn't go at all with the character. They may influence what power is given, or be read and ignored.
Here is a list of some of the possible powers, and no, I will not explain what they involve. I’ll send that information to the power’s owner in a PM. If you think of a power you want added to the list, feel free to PM me your idea, but I will not give that power to your character and it must be able to be summarized with one word for simplicity’s sake.
Here is the basic CS template, just delete my instruction/commentary. Please post your completed sheet(s) here, and I’ll let people know if they are accepted all at once.
Ideally I'm looking for give or take four other people each playing two or three characters, but I'm not going to force myself to stick to that. I consider myself a pretty loose GM, and I'm very open to the ideas and suggestions of others. If I do something that you don't like, please, call me out on it. As always, I look forward to RPing with you in the past, present, and future.