I am not sure what everyone else is thinking and I don't want to step on any toes (the interest check filled up quickly and I don't want to maneuver through it again), but I am leaning towards doing either Domino or Jessica Jones. If someone has their heart set on either or both of those, I can always fall back to someone else.
No one had publicly expressed interest in either character in the interest check. You are also allowed to apply for the same character as someone else as your concepts will likely be different, and both will be weighed equally and fairly. Most of those who were in the interest check are familiar with the idea of competing and won't consider it to be toe-stepping.
P E T E R P A R K E R ♦ P H O T O G R A P H E R / S T U D E N T ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y ♦ D A I L Y B U G L E / H O R I Z O N L A B S
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
""You say you don't want the responsibility? Guess what? People like us... we don't get a choice.""
Peter was eight years old when death and destruction descended from the stars. It wasn't long after, amidst the looting in the chaotic aftermath of the 44-Hour War, that he lost his Uncle Ben. A little more than six years later, an incident during a school tour of Oscorp Industries' research division resulted in Peter gaining spectacular powers. At 15, he entered the rapidly growing world of superheroes. As Spider-Man, he has spent the better part of nearly six years contending with the Maggia's substantial influence over New York City. Currently in his sophomore year at Empire State University, he must balance the growing responsibilities he's facing as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
The recent death of Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi, the longtime head of the Maggia, sent a ripple throughout the New York underworld that is about to make that balance that much more difficult to maintain.
* * *
My version of Peter Parker isn't too different from the classic renditions we're used to. A little more modernized; a little less cloned. His rogues gallery isn't quite as expansive yet, but he's tangled with quite a few of the regular offenders over the years. There's not much about Spidey himself that is reimagined, but I will be taking some of Peter's supporting cast and some classic stories in a slightly different, more streamlined direction. Over the decades, Spider-comics have introduced a metric ton of characters and lore, and I have zero desire to touch upon them all. Instead, I want to take a handful that I think will either be fun to revisit or that could be reimagined in a less chaotic way and expand upon them in a steady, unrushed fashion. With just a few twists to make it my own.
The decline of the Maggia and the rise of new organized crime will be a particular arc I intend to cover.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Aunt May - Peter still lives with his loving aunt who spends most of her time volunteering for the charity FEAST.
Gwen Stacy - Longtime neighbor and friend of Peter's. Having known each other since they were just out of diapers, next to his aunt, Gwen is the closest thing Peter has to family. In their senior year of high school, the two had a romance that was cut short after the tragic death of Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father. Deciding being home was too much of a daily reminder of her loss, Gwen left to attend university overseas.
Flash Thompson - A childhood classmate of Peter's turned high school bully and tormentor. Flash dealt with an abusive home life until he finally moved out to attend ESU on a football scholarship. Unexpectedly, Flash and Peter reconciled their freshman year and the two have enjoyed a strong friendship since.
Harry Osborn - Peter didn't meet Harry until after his fateful trip to Oscorp, but the instant the two crossed paths they became the best of friends. With Gwen, the trio was inseparable for the three years prior to graduating. During his freshman year of university, Harry developed a heavy drug addiction. Sent to a rehab center over the summer by his father, Peter has had little contact with Harry until recently when he was informed of Harry's recovery and upcoming return to school.
Mary Jane Watson - A recent addition to Peter's social circle, MJ was introduced to him through Flash at the start of their sophomore year. An avid partygoer, MJ brings a spark of fun and joy that Peter desperately needs in his life. She interns for the infamous fashion designer Roderick Kingsley.
Carlie Cooper - A forensic science major, Carlie and Peter shared many classes during their freshman year at ESU. Together with her roommate, Lily Hollister, Carlie became a frequent member of Peter's close friendship circle, ultimately culminating in the two beginning to date the summer before their sophomore year.
Dr. Curt Connors - A geneticist and biochemist who heads up Horizon labs, a genetics, and technology research facility. He is an ally of Spider-Man and has aided the hero numerous times throughout the last several years, including the development of several gadgets and gear improvements. He works alongside his partner, Dr. Miles Warren, a professor of Peter's at ESU. Debra Whitman, ESU graduate student, and Michael Morbius, Greek transfer grad student, both round out the Horizon Labs roster as assistants for Dr. Connors.
Jean DeWolff - A captain in the NYPD Major Crimes Unit, and former partner of the late Captain George Stacy. She often aids Spider-Man when it comes to Maggia matters, and vice-versa.
Yuriko Watanabe & Vin Gonzales - Two young officers on the force who are more often than not the first on the scene of any criminal round-ups Spidey leaves behind.
Elias Wirtham - A paramedic who has helped patch up Spider-Man on rare occasions the latter is in particularly rough shape.
Staff of the Daily Bugle - The Daily Bugle began as a successful, tabloid newspaper owned by J. Jonah Jameson that in the last decade launched as a cable news network with a dedicated focus on covering the rise of vigilantism. Peter freelances there as a photographer tasked with capturing pictures of New York's costumed characters. Robbie Robertson is the current editor-in-chief of the print and digital editions of the Bugle, a vocal supporter of Spider-Man, and Peter's direct boss. Betty Brant is a junior reporter who doggedly attempts to get pieces regarding the Maggia to see the light of day. Ben Urich and Norah Winters are the anchors and personalities behind the successful investigative journalist show, Frontline, which is the flagship program of the cable network.
The Maggia - New York's dominant organized crime family for nearly a century. Peter has come into conflict with them and their operations time and time again in the five-and-a-half years since becoming Spider-Man. The longtime head of the organization, Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi, passed away just two months ago, causing a major shakeup among The Maggia.
Norman Osborn - The multimillionaire industrialist responsible for the genetically engineered spider that bit Peter. Norman, while not directly an enemy of Spider-Man, has caused issues for the web-slinger on occasion. Namely, hiring and supplying a mercenary with high-tech gear to hunt down and capture Spider-Man in order to discover the secrets to the hero's powers. He is currently running for mayor of New York on a platform of forming a privatized, super-soldier police force to combat mutant threats.
Adrian Toomes/The Vulture - A brilliant inventor who used his prototype, zero-gravity flight harness to commit several crimes of opportunity in the wake of chaos left behind four years ago from the battle between the terrorist Gravitron and the Avengers. His prototype was confiscated by SHIELD and Toomes was imprisoned until his recent release. The Vulture was the first costumed villain Spider-Man encountered.
Jason Macendale/Jack-O-Lantern - Marine-turned-mercenary who was hired by Norman Osborn to capture Spider-Man. Supplied with advanced technology in the form of weaponry, armor, and a state-of-the-art hovercraft. In order to conceal his identity, he took on the persona of Jack-O-Lantern, an apparently new supervillain on the block. Six months ago, he hunted Spider-Man for weeks but ultimately failed to capture the wallcrawler. Macendale made his escape after one final confrontation, taking with him all of the gear Osborn had provided, now with a personal vendetta against Spider-Man.
Phineas Mason/The Tinkerer - Genius engineer and inventor, Phineas had a bright future ahead of him during the initial years of the superhuman arms race. He had a contract with the U.S. Government to develop advanced weaponry that would have proved most lucrative, but he disappeared right before he was to deliver his initial prototypes. Having gone underground for nearly a decade, he resurfaced two years ago as a black-market arms dealer providing criminals with high-tech gear. With the death of Silvermane, The Tinkerer is making a new bid for power.
Lizard - The alter-ego of Curt Connors. Last year, after testing an experimental cellular regeneration serum on himself, he mutated into a violent, bestial, humanoid reptile with a monstrous hunger. It took all of Spider-Man's strength and cunning to capture and subsequently revert the good doctor before any serious harm could be done. While he has not transformed since, the potential threat of a recurring incident looms over both men. The Lizard was the first, and so far only, superpowered individual Spider-Man faced.
Mac Gargan - A private investigator hired three years ago by J. Jonah Jameson, who was convinced that Spider-Man was a menace to society, in order to uncover the wallcrawler's true identity. This resulted in an embarrassing public display that left Gargan out of practice and a popular meme for several months. Although he has not been seen since, Gargan had threatened to make Spider-Man pay for ruining his life.
Aleksei Sytsevich - A Russian enforcer that Spider-Man has apprehended multiple times throughout the years.
Fred Myers and Anthony Davis - A pair of petty thieves who more often than not screw up their own plans before Spider-Man can even try to stop them. They have run afoul of the webhead more than a dozen times over four years.
Walter Hardy - Renowned international cat burglar who committed a string of jewelry and art heists sixteen months ago that led Spider-Man on a multiweek game of cat and mouse that finally ended in Hardy's arrest.
It began a century ago in the wake of The Great War. While the world recovered from its devastating conflict, scientists in the United States of America made a wondrous discovery; a mutant gene present in some individuals that granted incredible, unique abilities. The American government suppressed this information while simultaneously conducting experiments on these individuals.
The fruits of their research gave birth to the Super Soldier Project and its early successes during the height of the Second World War. Decades of continued immoral experimentation run by the US military and CIA finally culminated in the early 1960s, leading to a series of Congressional inquiries, and, ultimately, the public revelation of mutant kind.
Although a massive cultural and political shift in the American landscape, humanity would face an even larger encounter with the unknown just five decades later. In 2010, sixteen cities across the globe came under siege as an invasionary force from the stars descended on Earth. The Chitauri swarm, commanded by their queen, swept across these cities with unprecedented destructive force.
The Earth's military might proved largely ineffective against the seemingly unending hordes, and complete conquest seemed in sight. Pocket conflicts began to rise, however, across the globe as mutant kind began to rise up and take a stand against the invaders. A handful of individuals wielding mighty powers followed suit in New York City, taking the fight directly to the mothership above the United Nations building. The resistance was short and brutal, but ultimately effective as the Chitauri queen was killed in battle, causing the complete disarray of the invading army.
Hundreds of thousands lost their lives in the brief forty-four hours of that first contact war. Tens of millions more were directly affected by the devastation.
From there, the world quickly changed. In America, the enhanced individuals responsible for the defeat of the alien queen were recruited by the National Security Council into a fledgling initiative to defend the United States against future assaults. SHIELD, a former spy agency mothballed in the 1980s, was resurrected for similar purposes. Calls for new weapons of mass destruction capable of fending off planetary incursions led to the formation of the Sentinel Program. And a renewed spark in super soldiers gave rise to a superhuman arms race undertaken by private corporations and industrialists.
In the immediate months following the invasion, reports of vigilantism skyrocketed. Social media became flooded with the notion of the superhero. In the twelve years since the Chitauri's onslaught, acts of powered and costumed individuals became commonplace.
P E T E R P A R K E R ♦ P H O T O G R A P H E R / S T U D E N T ♦ N E W Y O R K C I T Y ♦ D A I L Y B U G L E / H O R I Z O N L A B S
C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:
""You say you don't want the responsibility? Guess what? People like us... we don't get a choice.""
Peter was eight years old when death and destruction descended from the stars. It wasn't long after, amidst the looting in the chaotic aftermath of the 44-Hour War, that he lost his Uncle Ben. A little more than six years later, an incident during a school tour of Oscorp Industries' research division resulted in Peter gaining spectacular powers. At 15, he entered the rapidly growing world of superheroes. As Spider-Man, he has spent the better part of nearly six years contending with the Maggia's substantial influence over New York City. Currently in his sophomore year at Empire State University, he must balance the growing responsibilities he's facing as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
The recent death of Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi, the longtime head of the Maggia, sent a ripple throughout the New York underworld that is about to make that balance that much more difficult to maintain.
* * *
My version of Peter Parker isn't too different from the classic renditions we're used to. A little more modernized; a little less cloned. His rogues gallery isn't quite as expansive yet, but he's tangled with quite a few of the regular offenders over the years. There's not much about Spidey himself that is reimagined, but I will be taking some of Peter's supporting cast and some classic stories in a slightly different, more streamlined direction. Over the decades, Spider-comics have introduced a metric ton of characters and lore, and I have zero desire to touch upon them all. Instead, I want to take a handful that I think will either be fun to revisit or that could be reimagined in a less chaotic way and expand upon them in a steady, unrushed fashion. With just a few twists to make it my own.
The decline of the Maggia and the rise of new organized crime will be a particular arc I intend to cover.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
Aunt May - Peter still lives with his loving aunt who spends most of her time volunteering for the charity FEAST.
Gwen Stacy - Longtime neighbor and friend of Peter's. Having known each other since they were just out of diapers, next to his aunt, Gwen is the closest thing Peter has to family. In their senior year of high school, the two had a romance that was cut short after the tragic death of Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father. Deciding being home was too much of a daily reminder of her loss, Gwen left to attend university overseas.
Flash Thompson - A childhood classmate of Peter's turned high school bully and tormentor. Flash dealt with an abusive home life until he finally moved out to attend ESU on a football scholarship. Unexpectedly, Flash and Peter reconciled their freshman year and the two have enjoyed a strong friendship since.
Harry Osborn - Peter didn't meet Harry until after his fateful trip to Oscorp, but the instant the two crossed paths they became the best of friends. With Gwen, the trio was inseparable for the three years prior to graduating. During his freshman year of university, Harry developed a heavy drug addiction. Sent to a rehab center over the summer by his father, Peter has had little contact with Harry until recently when he was informed of Harry's recovery and upcoming return to school.
Mary Jane Watson - A recent addition to Peter's social circle, MJ was introduced to him through Flash at the start of their sophomore year. An avid partygoer, MJ brings a spark of fun and joy that Peter desperately needs in his life. She interns for the infamous fashion designer Roderick Kingsley.
Carlie Cooper - A forensic science major, Carlie and Peter shared many classes during their freshman year at ESU. Together with her roommate, Lily Hollister, Carlie became a frequent member of Peter's close friendship circle, ultimately culminating in the two beginning to date the summer before their sophomore year.
Dr. Curt Connors - A geneticist and biochemist who heads up Horizon labs, a genetics, and technology research facility. He is an ally of Spider-Man and has aided the hero numerous times throughout the last several years, including the development of several gadgets and gear improvements. He works alongside his partner, Dr. Miles Warren, a professor of Peter's at ESU. Debra Whitman, ESU graduate student, and Michael Morbius, Greek transfer grad student, both round out the Horizon Labs roster as assistants for Dr. Connors.
Jean DeWolff - A captain in the NYPD Major Crimes Unit, and former partner of the late Captain George Stacy. She often aids Spider-Man when it comes to Maggia matters, and vice-versa.
Yuriko Watanabe & Vin Gonzales - Two young officers on the force who are more often than not the first on the scene of any criminal round-ups Spidey leaves behind.
Elias Wirtham - A paramedic who has helped patch up Spider-Man on rare occasions the latter is in particularly rough shape.
Staff of the Daily Bugle - The Daily Bugle began as a successful, tabloid newspaper owned by J. Jonah Jameson that in the last decade launched as a cable news network with a dedicated focus on covering the rise of vigilantism. Peter freelances there as a photographer tasked with capturing pictures of New York's costumed characters. Robbie Robertson is the current editor-in-chief of the print and digital editions of the Bugle, a vocal supporter of Spider-Man, and Peter's direct boss. Betty Brant is a junior reporter who doggedly attempts to get pieces regarding the Maggia to see the light of day. Ben Urich and Norah Winters are the anchors and personalities behind the successful investigative journalist show, Frontline, which is the flagship program of the cable network.
The Maggia - New York's dominant organized crime family for nearly a century. Peter has come into conflict with them and their operations time and time again in the five-and-a-half years since becoming Spider-Man. The longtime head of the organization, Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi, passed away just two months ago, causing a major shakeup among The Maggia.
Norman Osborn - The multimillionaire industrialist responsible for the genetically engineered spider that bit Peter. Norman, while not directly an enemy of Spider-Man, has caused issues for the web-slinger on occasion. Namely, hiring and supplying a mercenary with high-tech gear to hunt down and capture Spider-Man in order to discover the secrets to the hero's powers. He is currently running for mayor of New York on a platform of forming a privatized, super-soldier police force to combat mutant threats.
Adrian Toomes/The Vulture - A brilliant inventor who used his prototype, zero-gravity flight harness to commit several crimes of opportunity in the wake of chaos left behind four years ago from the battle between the terrorist Gravitron and the Avengers. His prototype was confiscated by SHIELD and Toomes was imprisoned until his recent release. The Vulture was the first costumed villain Spider-Man encountered.
Jason Macendale/Jack-O-Lantern - Marine-turned-mercenary who was hired by Norman Osborn to capture Spider-Man. Supplied with advanced technology in the form of weaponry, armor, and a state-of-the-art hovercraft. In order to conceal his identity, he took on the persona of Jack-O-Lantern, an apparently new supervillain on the block. Six months ago, he hunted Spider-Man for weeks but ultimately failed to capture the wallcrawler. Macendale made his escape after one final confrontation, taking with him all of the gear Osborn had provided, now with a personal vendetta against Spider-Man.
Phineas Mason/The Tinkerer - Genius engineer and inventor, Phineas had a bright future ahead of him during the initial years of the superhuman arms race. He had a contract with the U.S. Government to develop advanced weaponry that would have proved most lucrative, but he disappeared right before he was to deliver his initial prototypes. Having gone underground for nearly a decade, he resurfaced two years ago as a black-market arms dealer providing criminals with high-tech gear. With the death of Silvermane, The Tinkerer is making a new bid for power.
Lizard - The alter-ego of Curt Connors. Last year, after testing an experimental cellular regeneration serum on himself, he mutated into a violent, bestial, humanoid reptile with a monstrous hunger. It took all of Spider-Man's strength and cunning to capture and subsequently revert the good doctor before any serious harm could be done. While he has not transformed since, the potential threat of a recurring incident looms over both men. The Lizard was the first, and so far only, superpowered individual Spider-Man faced.
Mac Gargan - A private investigator hired three years ago by J. Jonah Jameson, who was convinced that Spider-Man was a menace to society, in order to uncover the wallcrawler's true identity. This resulted in an embarrassing public display that left Gargan out of practice and a popular meme for several months. Although he has not been seen since, Gargan had threatened to make Spider-Man pay for ruining his life.
Aleksei Sytsevich - A Russian enforcer that Spider-Man has apprehended multiple times throughout the years.
Fred Myers and Anthony Davis - A pair of petty thieves who more often than not screw up their own plans before Spider-Man can even try to stop them. They have run afoul of the webhead more than a dozen times over four years.
Walter Hardy - Renowned international cat burglar who committed a string of jewelry and art heists sixteen months ago that led Spider-Man on a multiweek game of cat and mouse that finally ended in Hardy's arrest.
1918 - American scientists discover the presence of the mutant gene within some individuals. This information is classified. Research into the gene begins, eventually becoming Project: Rebirth over the decades.
1941 - Dr. Berthold Sternberg reaches a breakthrough resulting in the Infinity Formula. This formula is administered to an elite Army Rangers unit, led by Sgt. Nick Fury and Cpl. Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan. Dubbed the Howling Commandos, these Army Rangers were the first known super soldiers.
1942 - German defector Dr. Abraham Erskine completes his own research into Project: Rebirth resulting in the Super-Soldier Serum, a more completed formula, before his subsequent murder. Steve Rogers becomes the first test subject for the serum and joins the war efforts as Captain America.
1945 - Captain America is declared KIA.
1947 - The Roswell incident is humanity's first known interaction with extraterrestrial life in modern history as a Kree drone crashlands and self-destructs in the desert. Almost none of the wreck is salvageable.
1949 - The Strategic Homeland Intelligence, Enforcement and Logistics Division is founded in the early years of the Cold War. Col. Nick Fury is given command of the spy agency.
1950s - Attempts to replicate the successes of Project: Rebirth by the CIA and American military lead to the forcible recruitment of 300 black soldiers as test subjects.
1962 - A whistleblower outed Project: Rebirth's increasingly immoral and illegal experimentations resulting in 10 months of Congressional inquiries and the termination of the program.
1963 - The knowledge of the mutant gene is released to the general public. This leads to hysteria and civil unrest that spans years.
1973 - Project MK-Ultra ends its illegal human testing. In its stead, John Sublime begins his illegal mutant experimentations as a new clandestine program; Weapon: Plus.
1980s - Renewed efforts for mutant civil rights lead to mass protests. The Brotherhood of Mutants forms, initially as a political activist group, and quickly transitions into a violent revolutionary group preaching about mutant power and superiority. Likewise, the Purifiers, a violent anti-mutant hate group begins committing acts of domestic terrorism against mutant civilians. The conflict between the two lasts the whole decade until both organizations' leaderships are arrested by the FBI and disbanded.
1989 - SHIELD is mothballed as President Reagan's final act in office.
2010 - Sixteen cities across the Earth are assaulted by an alien invasionary force. The Chitauri, led by their queen, cause widespread, unprecedented damage and terror in a war lasting 44 hours. This incursion is ended largely due to the efforts of mutants across the world, and a ragtag strike team of enhanced individuals attacking the queen's mothership over the United Nations building in New York City.
The acts of mutants in defense of the planet cause a massive decrease in anti-mutant sentiments and an increase in public approval ratings for pro-mutant politicians.
The individuals responsible for assaulting the alien mothership and defeating the Chitauri queen are recruited by the National Security Council to a new initiative meant to defend America against future attacks. These individuals become publicly known as Earth's Avengers.
SHIELD is resurrected to be a proactive bastion against possible threats, absorbing the Department of Homeland Security, with Dum Dum Dugan appointed director.
The Sentinel Program is created, led by Bolivar Trask, to create new weapons of mass destruction capable of fending off planetary invasions.
A superhuman arms race is heralded by private corporations and industrialists in a bid to create and sell the next super soldier. Norman Osborn declares his corporation will be the first to design a new, stable super serum.
Vigilantism by enhanced individuals becomes commonplace. This soon develops into the first known acts of superheroism.
2012 - The first helicarrier, the Triskellion, is constructed and becomes SHIELD's flagship and mobile headquarters.
2018 - Mutant terrorist Franklin Hall, AKA Gravitron, becomes the Avengers' first genuine enhanced threat.
Anti-mutant sentiments rearise as conspiracy theories, courtesy of radicals like the Friends of Humanity, begin to spread across the internet.
Graydon Creed, a known member of the Friends of Humanity, is elected to Congress.
2020 - Robert Kelly, vocal proponent of the Wideawake America Movement - a pro-human, anti-mutant movement - is elected President of the United States.
2022 - President Kelly announces he is backing Congressman Creed's proposed Mutant Control Act.
Bolivar Trask, a man credited with creating Earth's greatest defense in the form of the Sentinels, purchases a social media site and begins peddling conspiracies of a mutant replacement theory. This move is hailed by Congressman Creed and others of like mind.
A new Brotherhood of Mutants forms in the wake of resurging Neo-Purifier beliefs.
January 2023 - Present day.
This timeline will be regularly updated as GM events unfold. It will also be updated to include significant player-driven moments as well as crucial lore presented in character backstories. GM canon events will be in blue while non-GM canon will be in yellow. This is because non-GM canon is subject to change with the acceptance and withdrawal of players over the course of the roleplay.
It began a century ago in the wake of The Great War. While the world recovered from its devastating conflict, scientists in the United States of America made a wondrous discovery; a mutant gene present in some individuals that granted incredible, unique abilities. The American government suppressed this information while simultaneously conducting experiments on these individuals.
The fruits of their research gave birth to the Super Soldier Project and its early successes during the height of the Second World War. Decades of continued immoral experimentation run by the US military and CIA finally culminated in the early 1960s, leading to a series of Congressional inquiries, and, ultimately, the public revelation of mutant kind.
Although a massive cultural and political shift in the American landscape, humanity would face an even larger encounter with the unknown just five decades later. In 2010, sixteen cities across the globe came under siege as an invasionary force from the stars descended on Earth. The Chitauri swarm, commanded by their queen, swept across these cities with unprecedented destructive force.
The Earth's military might proved largely ineffective against the seemingly unending hordes, and complete conquest seemed in sight. Pocket conflicts began to rise, however, across the globe as mutant kind began to rise up and take a stand against the invaders. A handful of individuals wielding mighty powers followed suit in New York City, taking the fight directly to the mothership above the United Nations building. The resistance was short and brutal, but ultimately effective as the Chitauri queen was killed in battle, causing the complete disarray of the invading army.
Hundreds of thousands lost their lives in the brief forty-four hours of that first contact war. Tens of millions more were directly affected by the devastation.
From there, the world quickly changed. In America, the enhanced individuals responsible for the defeat of the alien queen were recruited by the National Security Council into a fledgling initiative to defend the United States against future assaults. SHIELD, a former spy agency mothballed in the 1980s, was resurrected for similar purposes. Calls for new weapons of mass destruction capable of fending off planetary incursions led to the formation of the Sentinel Program. And a renewed spark in super soldiers gave rise to a superhuman arms race undertaken by private corporations and industrialists.
In the immediate months following the invasion, reports of vigilantism skyrocketed. Social media became flooded with the notion of the superhero. In the twelve years since the Chitauri's onslaught, acts of powered and costumed individuals became commonplace.
The world had entered the...
Hello, and welcome. Age of Marvels is intended to be a collaborative sandbox roleplay with linear story elements that will create a living, breathing world and narrative for us all to enjoy together. Previous comic fandom games have, in my opinion, suffered from a significant issue: too little narrative focus. While individual storytellers have been able to excel in writing their own arcs, these often prove to be isolated stories far removed from the rest of the world that the roleplays are set in. I have in the past attempted to solve this with strict linear elements, tightly controlled settings, and smaller groups. I feel my solutions then were too 'railroad-y' despite my desire to maintain player autonomy. So, in Age of Marvels, I have devised a new method to encourage greater collaborative storytelling and worldbuilding: mini-events.
Mini-events will be semi-linear plots initially crafted by GM hands and then opened to player direction. A 'checklist' of sorts will be provided in the OOC as a guiding tool for how to successfully resolve these events, but ultimately how each event is dealt with and completed is up to the players who choose to become involved. The freedom will be yours to decide how they are settled, regardless of how positive or negative the outcomes. It will then be my job as GM to take what occurred in each event and incorporate it into the narrative at large as well as let it affect which future events pop up.
These mini-events will be broken into three categories: minor, moderate, and major.
A minor event is just that; mostly insignificant in the grand scheme. They can range from simple jewelry heists or reckless driving to pedestrians suffering from a medical emergency. These lower-tier events won't require more than one or maybe two players to get involved, and likely can be wrapped up within two posts at most. The purpose of minor events is to encourage IC activity, allow for more mundane interaction between heroes, and fill in the world's narrative with smaller detailed moments.
Moderate events are ones that can accommodate a few players. They will often feature typical street-level events such as armed bank robberies, gang war activity, or a singular costumed villain putting civilians at risk. These events can take more than a few collective posts between all responding players to resolve, and the outcomes will have a more noticeable effect on the game's progressing story. These will be the most common mini-event and offer a decent jumping-off point for players unsure how and where to start with their characters.
Major events will have a more direct and lasting impact on the narrative of the RP. These city-level events might catch the attention of four or more players who have to separate into two or more groups in order to find a safe resolution. They'll also have multiple problems to them, and present a significant threat to the city they are located in. These events can range from devastating natural disasters to nuclear meltdowns or assaults on the government and planned assaults by powerful villains.
Furthermore, as the RP progresses, the fourth kind of event will be introduced. A crisis event will pose a nationwide, planetwide, or galaxywide threat. Much like the Chitauri invasion, these events will have massive ramifications and dramatically affect all player characters whether directly involved or not. These will be all-hands-on-deck situations and serve as a call to action for all actively accepted members of the roleplay. As such, crisis events will be few and far between, often posing as an endcap to previously established and enduring story beats or serving as the kickstart to a new direction in the narrative.
My goal for these mini-events is to always have one available every two weeks to a month, depending on how long the previous last. While you won't be forced to participate in any, it is highly encouraged. Collaborative worldbuilding will be the name of the game here, and these linear elements will be the most direct way to do so.
R U L E S
Players are allowed one character concept at a time. Group and team concepts are allowed. These concepts must be of canon characters pulled from any mainstream Marvel comics, shows, movies, or other products. This does not include franchises like Transformers or Star Wars that Marvel has been licensed to sell in the past. Likewise, these concepts must not be villainous in nature. Anti-heroes are acceptable.
Applications will be reviewed and considered 48 hours after their completed submission. If a competing character concept is applied for within that 48-hour window, all concepts will be reviewed and considered once it has been 48 hours following the final completed competing sheet's submission. An OOC statement of the intent to compete within that initial 48-hour window will be allowed, but if no completed sheet is submitted within 24 hours then the application review process will continue.
You are free to reimagine characters as you see fit, so long as they follow the previous rules. This means you can take characters that are canonical villains in the comics and turn them heroic (e.g., heroic Juggernaut), or gender bend (e.g., female Daredevil), or place another character entirely into a hero's iconic suit (e.g., Happy Hogan as Iron Man). All I ask is that you try not to warp the character so far that they're entirely unrecognizable from their original mainstream interpretation.
Once accepted, players will have a degree of say in the approval of concepts that constitute their 'legacies.' This means an already accepted Captain America player could inform the GM that a submitted Winter Soldier application conflicts with the story they are trying to tell, and as a result that concept may need to be changed. Please do your best to collaborate and compromise in this regard, but previously accepted 'parent' applications will have higher priority.
This is the Advanced Roleplay section. As such, Advanced Roleplay guidelines should be followed. That means a heavier focus on character development, longer posts (a minimum of two, although ideally three to five, well-developed paragraphs), in-depth and thought-out plots, and "a dedicated effort to minimize typographical errors and to use good grammar." While I'm not expecting anyone here to write a novel, I will hold you to a higher standard than what would be expected in other roleplay sections.
Posting once within a two-week (14-day) period is required. If circumstances prevent this, please let me know. While I will likely excuse the first instances, routinely posting late will get you removed from the active roster. A week after being dropped to inactive status without any further posts will result in your character concept being unaccepted and steps taken within the IC to resolve any conflicts with your character. While I am very understanding of life getting in the way, and I'll work with you on solutions if you inform me of issues, I do not take kindly to players ghosting my RPs. Please consider in advance whether or not you have the ability and desire to keep up with these expectations. When you submit a character sheet and I accept you, I am trusting you to be committed and consistent, or, at the very least, respectful to my time and the time of others.
All Guild rules apply here. Keep your smut locked away in the deepest recesses of your internet browser like the rest of us.
[CENTER][h1][color=slategray][b]A L I A S[/b][/color][/h1][h r] [img]IMAGE/BANNER[/img][h3][sup][sub][color=slategray]B I R T H N A M E [color=slategray]♦[/color] O C C U P A T I O N [color=slategray]♦[/color] L O C A T I O N [color=slategray]♦[/color] A F F I L I A T I O N[/color][/sub][/sup][/h3][img]IMAGE/BANNER[/img] [/CENTER][COLOR=slategray][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][h r][/COLOR] [CENTER][sup][color=slategray]"Witty Quote"[/color][/sup][/CENTER] [INDENT][INDENT][I]This should be a summary of the character and your general outline for the concept at the start of the game. It does [i]not[/i] need to be a lengthy, detailed play-by-play of your character's entire history. I mainly want to see the core idea behind your concept, the significant diversions from source material you're making, and how you've reimagined the character. Please highlight any specific changes in origin, identity, or goals. Any insights into important story arcs and direction you'll take the character can also go here.
[color=gold]* As superheroism didn't exist until 12 years ago post-invasion, please tell me roughly when your character began operating as a vigilante/costumed hero.[/color][/i][/indent][/indent] [COLOR=slategray][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][h r][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][i]This is a section you can use to clarify powersets, [b]list dedicated NPCs you'll be using[/b], place your own personal timeline for your character, or any other relevant notes you feel the GM or other players should know.[/i][/indent][/indent] [COLOR=slategray][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]S A M P L E P O S T:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][h r][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][i]This is an advanced roleplay, so please let your sample reflect the quality and content of your posts. Just a few paragraphs to give me a glimpse into how you plan to write the character are all that is needed, and you can choose to turn this sample into a post in the IC later. Please include at least one line of dialogue and/or an 'action' scene that'll best represent your imagined concept. This is mainly so that I can see if your writing meets the requirements for the advanced section.[/i][/indent][/indent] [COLOR=slategray][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]P O S T C A T A L O G:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][h r][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][i]This section is not necessary, but a procedural listing of your linked posts will make it much easier and more convenient for all involved.[/i][/indent][/indent]
Remove the space between h r in the code above to get the intended effect. Alter the color scheme as you desire.
Credit goes to @Lord Wraith for the initial formatting which I have since butchered.
If someone currently around who is good at graphics wants to do me a favor, PM me. I've got an extra banner I need for a certain something before I get the OOC up. Please and thank you.
mickilennial
Master Bruce
Supermaxx
AndyC
Lord Wraith
Festive
Simple Unicycle
Half Pint
Izurich
Rockette
