Superheroes Vs. Villains - Recruitment Always Open!

[TheGlyphstone]

Superheroes Vs. Villains

Welcome to the world of Superheroes vs. Villains, a game and universe of metahumans and mayhem. It's a world much like our own, but with the (obvious) addition of certain individuals sporting metahuman or outright paranormal powers. They started appearing around the beginning of the 20th century, and have since become more-or-less integrated as another minority in human society, if one who might be capable of shooting eye lasers or transforming into a wombat. World governments have adapted, co-opting powerful metahumans into their service and developing secretive weapons and techniques for defeating the champions of their enemies.

Vigilantism is illegal, but any would-be do-gooder can obtain a hero license fairly easily, depending on the local laws, and aspiring heroes often form official teams to protect their town, city, or state. On the other side of the coin, there are plenty of those who would see their unusual powers turned to benefit themselves instead, whether to crush a world of impudent mundanes beneath their booted feet or simply to get really, really rich.

Bay City

The primary setting of our story, Bay City is San Francisco, San Diego, and Miami in the way that Metropolis and Gotham are New York, Boston, and Chicago - a great metropolitan city that could be any or all of them, but isn't, and at the same time is all of them combined. Since the end of World War II,  Bay City was guarded by the superhero team known as the Justicars and their leader, the mighty Paragon. The super-strong, invulnerable, flying champion of justice and his associates guarded the city from all that would do it harm, including the agents of the twin nefarious criminal syndicates known as the House of Cards headed by the malevolent super-genius Calculus, and the Shadow Guild with its conniving leader Hellion.

All of that changed, though, on the morning of what soon became known as One Bad Day. From nowhere, Bay City was driven to its knees by a massive crime wave, with shootings and robberies and random explosions pushing both the city's mundane police force and metahumans to their limits and beyond. As always, Paragon was at the forefront of the situation, hurtling from one crisis point to another without any rest or pause - until finally, he snapped. The great champion of Bay City's mind shattered, and in his madness, he became the city's worst nightmare. Hospitals demolished, prisons broken open, police and fire stations wrecked, doing damage in hours that would take years to recover from. The horror reached its peak when Paragon kidnapped a news reporter giving live coverage of the disasters, carried her to the top of the city's tallest building, and proceeded to rape her in full view of her own live feed before flying from the city and not being heard from since.

The resultant power vacuum was almost as devastating to Bay City as One Bad Day itself. A task force from the Department of Metahuman Affairs swooped in on the shattered city, occupying the Justicar Headquarter as its base of operations to hunt for the dangerous rogue Paragon. Many lesser-known champions of good traveled to Bay City or stepped up from local obscurity to fill the gap, but at the same time, a great many villains and villainesses saw an opportunity they could capitalize on, whether members of the House of Cards, the Shadow Guild, or independent operatives from parts unknown. Matters failed to improve when the international villainess and war criminal Peacemaker arrived on the scene, intent on purging Bay City of its associations with criminals and slavers one murdered corrupt official and toppled skyscraper at a time, aided by a deluded metahuman claiming to be the ancient Norse god Tyr - the two of them were defeated, but at great cost, another knife in Bay City's back.

Now we call upon you, hero, heroine, villain, or villainess. The time is now, to put on your spandex or charge up your armored suit, to rise up in Bay City's defense or plot its eventual downfall.


Q&A:
Q:What system are you using?
A: SvV is entirely freeform. We have a standardized character sheet, and certain guidelines for creating characters, but there are no system mechanics or dice-rolling needed to join in.

Q: Can I play Batman/Kitty Pryde/Incredible Hulk/Blue Beetle/Deadpool?
A: No. This is an original universe, with original characters - expies or homages are fine, but not outright ports or ripoffs...if you hadn't noticed, the NPC Paragon is a thinly veiled homage to Golden Age Superman. You could, say, have a ill-tempered metahuman hero with regenerative powers who fights with metal claw-gloves, but once you give him adamantium-covered bones and call everyone 'Bub', there's a problem. :D

Q: What sort of power gets thrown around in SvV?
A: The intended scope of the setting's power is something above Watchmen (minus Dr. M) and closer to the early X-men comics. We have a simple, loose grading system for estimating power, which can be found in the main game forum here.

Q: Is there a plot, or is it entirely sandbox (player-driven)?
A: The game is about 2/3 sandbox, built around a GM-controlled metaplot. Players can choose to pursue metaplot events or arrange scenes between each other towards one end or another. The in-game timescale corresponds to 1 day=2 RL weeks during Structured Time, with the occasional switch to a more nebulous Comic Book Time for important plot events.

Q: So how do I join?
A: My Paypal details are...j/k. :D Introduce yourself Here in the OOC thread, and/or post a comment Here. Take a look around, meet the existing players, decide what sort of character you want to create. From there, it'll be fairly simple.

[Laughing Hyena]

We are still ongoing and looking for more super heroes and villains particularly female supers. We need more villains so if you dare to embrace the dark side then c'mon in.

[Treehouseroleplayer]

Interested, but I wish I could take a look at the character thread first! :)

[Laughing Hyena]

Can't you? The character thread is in the big groups thread. Active player characters right here.

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135906.0

[Treehouseroleplayer]

Ah, weird, it was given me denied permission errors when I tried to go through the OOC thread, seems to work fine now though!

[Laughing Hyena]

Keep on coming people theres still room for more females and super villains!

[TheGlyphstone]

You'd think that, wouldn't you...of Active PCs, the count is at 4 male heroes, 6 female heroes, 2 male villains, 2 female villains. So while we're a little light on Team Evil, we actually have more women than men right now...not that that's a bad thing, or even a reason to not accept more heroines or villainesses.

[Vergil1989]

I am Katerina De Leon, newest, (possible,) telepath/telekinetic and I approve this thread.   ;D  Joking aside, let's see some hustle out here!  Lol

[Vaulera]

Oh my dear god I just got the most brilliant idea, someone out there, make a hero named Inigo Montoya!

[Vergil1989]

LOVED the Princess Bride!

The Princess Bride - Hello My Name Is Inigo Montoya

[Scarie187]

Bump

[Phaia]

are you still loking for people for this

Phaia

[Laughing Hyena]

Absolutely!

[TheGlyphstone]

Indeed, new blood is always welcome, in the true rotating-cast spirit of comic books.



On a side-note, since it's come up in the OOC thread a few times and isn't mentioned above:

Q&A Extended:
What sort of themes is the game meant to reflect?

Totally not a loaded question. This has two answers. The inspirational source material for the game, at least in terms of thematics, is the Silver and Golden age of comics. Heroes are Heroic, Villains are Villainous, and it's easy to tell the two apart. Grim-n-gritty antiheroes aren't really appropriate for the atmosphere we're trying to evoke, though there's still plenty of room for dark characters and motivations.

On an OOC dynamic, the game is placed in the NC sub-board as a convenience measure, darker than Light/Bondage but not Extreme. As one of our prominent players put it, when everyone is athletically fit, sporting either bulging muscles and/or the Most Common Female Superpower while running around in skintight spandex, there's going to be a lot of temptation to have defeats come with side benefits. It's not mandatory by any means, and there's a continuing metaplot arc for people who don't want to engage in sexytimes, but it's there and should be pointed out so no one is caught by surprise.

[Phaia]

Indeed, new blood is always welcome, in the true rotating-cast spirit of comic books.



On a side-note, since it's come up in the OOC thread a few times and isn't mentioned above:

Q&A Extended:
What sort of themes is the game meant to reflect?

Totally not a loaded question. This has two answers. The inspirational source material for the game, at least in terms of thematics, is the Silver and Golden age of comics. Heroes are Heroic, Villains are Villainous, and it's easy to tell the two apart. Grim-n-gritty antiheroes aren't really appropriate for the atmosphere we're trying to evoke, though there's still plenty of room for dark characters and motivations.

On an OOC dynamic, the game is placed in the NC sub-board as a convenience measure, darker than Light/Bondage but not Extreme. As one of our prominent players put it, when everyone is athletically fit, sporting either bulging muscles and/or the Most Common Female Superpower while running around in skintight spandex, there's going to be a lot of temptation to have defeats come with side benefits. It's not mandatory by any means, and there's a continuing metaplot arc for people who don't want to engage in sexytimes, but it's there and should be pointed out so no one is caught by surprise.

well of course there is benifits to a villian when he defeats the sexy heroine...I always remembered the jokers death traps he put bat girl in...he could have just made them sex traps as well >:)

Phaia

[RainbowRian]

Is this still open?

[TheGlyphstone]

Well, the header is Recruitment Open...so yes. :D

[RainbowRian]

~Facepalm~ I am sorry.  Do i just PM you the sheet? I have a specific Idea that my muse needs nourished and If so then perhaps you will have another character as well :)

[Scarie187]

The more the merrier.

[RainbowRian]

well another player and i made them as sisters and got our muses hyped up

[Scarie187]

I've contemplated unleashing a female char or two but most of the ones I have in mind are bad and I think I should play at least 1 hero.

[TheGlyphstone]

You're allowed one hero/oine and one villain/ess, as long as they don't interact directly with each other.

[Top Cat]

I'm somewhat interested, but I'd need a few more details. Are all of the erotic scenes intended to be consensual, or is it acknowledged that the villains will have their wicked way with the resisting heroes?

Also, that link to the Character Thread shows as Off Limits to me.

[TheGlyphstone]

I'm somewhat interested, but I'd need a few more details. Are all of the erotic scenes intended to be consensual, or is it acknowledged that the villains will have their wicked way with the resisting heroes?

Also, that link to the Character Thread shows as Off Limits to me.

That depends on the players involved. All scenes are obviously consensual OOC, and there are several black/white hat romances/voluntary sexiness, but there's also non-con ravishing and rape. It's not exclusively one or the other.

LH must have mistyped the link, because it is also off-limits to me and I'm a GM in the game.

[Scarie187]

Pretty much everything is up to your imagination... its a great community to RP in.

[Marie Reynolds]

So I have an idea and would welcome suggestions to make it work. I was thinking of a villianess whose true identity is unknown but has a public face as the head of a major non profit organization that helps get victims of various crimes back on their feet and help them build new lives and careers as professionals such as lawyers,Politicians, business tycoons. Though the more sinsiter side of this is also finding both mundane people and people who have not yet awoken to there super powers yet, to be apart of a shadow organization that by any means necessary to become a new stabilizing force in this choatic world and she recruits those she has rehabilited after becoming victims or guiding unspecting unawakened  supers to bring them into the fold for her vision of how society should be. She would even have a specialized mental institution for those Supers who begin to break down from the daily work they do and also the Mental Institute will take in young supers who the families do not want to take care of or be taken out of the public eye cause it may bring negative press to those with anti metahuman sentiments. Which she would then als work those people into her candiates to support her new world vision. I hope the villianess hiding in plain sight would fit with in this world.

[Renegade Vile]

Fair greetings.

I am unsure if there are any spots left in this role play at this time, but I have a profile that I would like to play here. Naturally, he may need some adapting to fit your setting, but it's easy to imagine that he may have moved to Bay City to search for information and the like pertaining to his nemesis.
Regardless, you'll find the profile here. I would appreciate it if you could inform me whether or not he is playable in this setting, or what needs to be changed for him to be appropriate.

Thank you in advance,

Vile

[TheGlyphstone]

@Marie: There's always room for a Villain With Good Publicity, it makes for an interesting challenge to heroes when they can't just punch the bad guy in the face.

@Renegade: This is not a slot-limited game, we have a constantly rotating cast of active players and so are always recruiting. It's a given that any pre-made character will need adapting - some more than others. If you'd like to try and adapt your character to SvV, head over to the subforum where you can find the character template/creation guidelines and write him up in the standardized format for submission as a New Character. From there, the GMs will review it and discuss with you via PM if it's appropriate for the game, and if not, what needs to be done to make it so.

[Renegade Vile]

@Marie: There's always room for a Villain With Good Publicity, it makes for an interesting challenge to heroes when they can't just punch the bad guy in the face.

@Renegade: This is not a slot-limited game, we have a constantly rotating cast of active players and so are always recruiting. It's a given that any pre-made character will need adapting - some more than others. If you'd like to try and adapt your character to SvV, head over to the subforum where you can find the character template/creation guidelines and write him up in the standardized format for submission as a New Character. From there, the GMs will review it and discuss with you via PM if it's appropriate for the game, and if not, what needs to be done to make it so.

As you wish, I'll take care of that later today, thank you for the speedy reply.

[Ramael]

So I have an idea and would welcome suggestions to make it work. I was thinking of a villianess whose true identity is unknown but has a public face as the head of a major non profit organization that helps get victims of various crimes back on their feet and help them build new lives and careers as professionals such as lawyers,Politicians, business tycoons. Though the more sinsiter side of this is also finding both mundane people and people who have not yet awoken to there super powers yet, to be apart of a shadow organization that by any means necessary to become a new stabilizing force in this choatic world and she recruits those she has rehabilited after becoming victims or guiding unspecting unawakened  supers to bring them into the fold for her vision of how society should be. She would even have a specialized mental institution for those Supers who begin to break down from the daily work they do and also the Mental Institute will take in young supers who the families do not want to take care of or be taken out of the public eye cause it may bring negative press to those with anti metahuman sentiments. Which she would then als work those people into her candiates to support her new world vision. I hope the villianess hiding in plain sight would fit with in this world.

I love this idea. Ideally, could she be a sub-part of the Shadow Guild or at least somehow loosely affiliated?

[Ramael]

Fair greetings.

I am unsure if there are any spots left in this role play at this time, but I have a profile that I would like to play here. Naturally, he may need some adapting to fit your setting, but it's easy to imagine that he may have moved to Bay City to search for information and the like pertaining to his nemesis.
Regardless, you'll find the profile here. I would appreciate it if you could inform me whether or not he is playable in this setting, or what needs to be changed for him to be appropriate.

Thank you in advance,

Vile

There could be a branch, or sub-contractor of the Corporation in Bay City. Thing is, he'd need a reason to stay there if he ever completes his mission. Also, the story is great but it's very self-focused, and not necessarily something the other heroes/villains could get in on. Could the Justicars be able to help him? Also, is he clear-cut villain or hero? He looks like a sort of anti-hero at the moment....we really need good guys or bad guys.

[Renegade Vile]

There could be a branch, or sub-contractor of the Corporation in Bay City. Thing is, he'd need a reason to stay there if he ever completes his mission. Also, the story is great but it's very self-focused, and not necessarily something the other heroes/villains could get in on. Could the Justicars be able to help him? Also, is he clear-cut villain or hero? He looks like a sort of anti-hero at the moment....we really need good guys or bad guys.

I was thinking of having him looking for clues in bay city, or it even holding many major holdings and like. But, due to whatever plots you have ongoing, he gets sidetracked, which is very possible. As for the story, it is self-focused because it is his background information, after all. He's not from Bay City so he won't have any standing relations with anyone there, nor would it make much sense for him to. As for being an anti-hero: he's not. It's stated in the bio that he's very much a super-villain. He's not fighting for good or evil, he just wants revenge and when he's done with NEIRIN, he'll move on to kill anyone else he deems akin to them, basically culling anyone he finds corrupted or capable of the same atrocities. He's not a vigilante, he'll remove anyone and anything in his way, regardless or morality or whether or not they're actually innocent. He also doesn't care at all about collateral damage, as long as he gets the job done. Will he intentionally seek out innocent people? No, he's not insane (at least not in that way), but if a few people that don't have anything to do with his quest happen to be sitting in a car that also holds one of his enemies, tough luck for them. He would not seek out the Justicars because the resident supers in his home town were powerless and some even refused to help because they had more important things to do. He's not really a loner, because he would ask help or an alliance from fellow villain, if necessary, but not from any hero. Alliances of necessity are always possible, but it would have to be something substantial threatening everyone for him to consider that.

[Ramael]

Don't get me wrong, I like the character, I'm just looking for ways he'll be legitimately involved in the goings on of Bay City when none of the other supers know and/or care about the Corporation.

We could have a storyline whereby the Corporation is a viable rival in terms of money power and resources to the Shadow Guild, and there could be a villain war. They could have liquidated themselves and re-franchised their company, moved to Bay City and set up under a different name (some known business that has been operating "legitimately" in Bay City for ages) and only your character has followed them and knows who they are. The Shadow Guild only knows them as rivals in power, potentially richer and more tech-heavy than they (the new Shadow Guild is kinda poor at the moment). The Guild wants their powerful rival down, and your character gets to work out his revenge. He approaches the Guild and offers a solution by way of (at least temporary) alliance.

However much that sounds like justifying an entire plot around one character, I already like it. It does kinda lock out the Justicars initially, but once the fighting takes to the streets there's no way they wouldn't get involved...


Anyway, this conversation can be moved to the new character interest thread in the ShvV sub-forum. There has been recently a large-scale brawl between the J's and the Guildies, so at the moment there is a lull and a new Shadow Guild secret base being set up. Perfect time for some new characters to show themselves.

[Renegade Vile]

Don't get me wrong, I like the character, I'm just looking for ways he'll be legitimately involved in the goings on of Bay City when none of the other supers know and/or care about the Corporation.

We could have a storyline whereby the Corporation is a viable rival in terms of money power and resources to the Shadow Guild, and there could be a villain war. They could have liquidated themselves and re-franchised their company, moved to Bay City and set up under a different name (some known business that has been operating "legitimately" in Bay City for ages) and only your character has followed them and knows who they are. The Shadow Guild only knows them as rivals in power, potentially richer and more tech-heavy than they (the new Shadow Guild is kinda poor at the moment). The Guild wants their powerful rival down, and your character gets to work out his revenge. He approaches the Guild and offers a solution by way of (at least temporary) alliance.

However much that sounds like justifying an entire plot around one character, I already like it. It does kinda lock out the Justicars initially, but once the fighting takes to the streets there's no way they wouldn't get involved...

Anyway, this conversation can be moved to the new character interest thread in the ShvV sub-forum. There has been recently a large-scale brawl between the J's and the Guildies, so at the moment there is a lull and a new Shadow Guild secret base being set up. Perfect time for some new characters to show themselves.

As you wish, I'll quote your post in the appropriate thread and respond there once I have the time.

[Scarie187]

Hopefully this will get things going again.

[Top Cat]

I've got two character concepts that I could bring in here. Either one could be Hero or Villain, depending on what's presently needed.

Brickbat - Brickbat was originally created in Champions pencil-and-paper system, and may be too powerful for this game. He can be tuned if the character concept is appealing enough. He'd probably be an A-class character, based on your scale.

Brickbat is a character based around kinetic absorption - he can be hit by baseball bats, iron girders, and cars, and it only makes him stronger. He has slightly above-human Strength and Resistances normally, but when he gets hit with kinetic attacks, he gets stronger, tougher, and more impressive (in Champions terms, his STR, PD, ED, and Presence get boosted evenly). His role is to take on opposing Bricks, take their best shot, and perform a Presence attack (Intimidation, usually, although it can be used for inspiration, or perhaps even seduction) to try to get them to surrender. If that doesn't work... well, he can give as good as he gets, and deliver piledriver blows of his own. His weakness is that he's fairly vulnerable to energy-based attacks, and has no defenses against mental attacks.

His name is a pun based on superhero gaming conventions - a brickbat is a mason's tool for knocking bricks into place.



Kitty Nine-Tales - A nimble little minx, Kitty Nine-Tales is all agility, claws, and her signature whip. She first appeared on the scene looking like any other hero, but her luck ran out - an enemy Blaster ended up putting an overcharged plasma bolt square through her chest, killing her instantly. A few days later, Kitty reappeared, seemingly none the worse for wear, but now sporting a pair of very real-looking cat-ears on top of her head.

Kitty's powers are superhuman agility, claws, and reincarnation. Every time she's killed, she reincarnates a few days later, looking a bit more feline with each successive death. She has a talent for melee combat, especially whips, using both a cat-o-nine-tails whip and a bullwhip. She could be written as a plucky C-class hero, or a B-class cat burglar villain.

[TheGlyphstone]

We already have a whip-themed character, and trying to replicate reincarnation would be a bitch and a half, so you're better off submitting Brickbat. A-grade PCs are not outright forbidden, but players - especially new players - will get put through the wringer during the approval process, to a much greater degree proportionately than lower-grade characters, so tweak him to whatever standard you want, format in the approved standard template, and wander over to post him up.

[Top Cat]

Do you need a Hero or Villain more right now?

[TheGlyphstone]

Whichever you feel like playing, we're not terribly concerned with keeping an even PC population on both sides.

[Ramael]

Although you've submitted Brickbat as a Justicar (quite rightly if you ask me) if Kitty did ever get up and running, you could make it so she only has nine lives and can only be "reincarnated" thus many.

Actually, damnit, I think I've just given myself and now this thread an idea for another cat-themed hero.

Other powers...lands on his feet...charms older women...famous on the internet for his stupid/adorable stunts...

[TheGlyphstone]

Just don't try to create LOLBat.

[Scarie187]

Maybe with each reincarnation she becomes more of a cat until ultimately she is a cat and therefore useless in a battle... cause well shes a cat.

[Ramael]

To all the villain's great humour and meowirth.





Cheque please!

[Scarie187]

Another thought, her whip could be changed to a lasso.

[Scarie187]

Yep...

[Top Cat]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm going with Brickbat for now. I may rework Kitty at some later date.

[RockSalt]

This looks like fun! OvO I have far too many character ideas at the moment however, I shall have to pare them down a bit before I start a character sheet >w>

[Scarie187]

Sounds cool, I got two chars and am aleays willing to come up with a partnership angle or something.

[Scarie187]

LOL, or not :-/

[Scarie187]

This post seems dead :-/

[RockSalt]

Sorry! School suddenly hit me particularly hard, and I haven't had a chance to get back to you. I probably won't be able to join until it lightens up a bit either :(

[TheGlyphstone]

No rush, we'll still be here when you're free again.

[Ramael]

PLOT UPDATE:

After the tulmutious battle, now called the Showdown at the Smoak, both the Justicars and new Shadow Guild have retreated to lick their wounds.

By "lick their wounds" I mean that the Justicars are planning a crime blitzkrieg, opening up an unrepentant can of pain on the crims of Bay City, and the SG have captured an independent superheroine, and are in the process of...converting her. One of the most powerful superheroines in the city was liberated by her old comrades and broken of her chronic nymphomania by the telepathic hero Psi, and a beserk suicide bomber nearly destroyed the Shadow Guild's headquarters, forcing their leader Shadowman to seek a new secret base.

In other news, a shady duo that prescribe to neither Justicars or Guildies have set up a cautious alliance to serve both their needs of revenge and self-furtherance.

[Scarie187]

Why do we fall?

[Scarie187]

Seriously?

[TheGlyphstone]

Why do we fall?

So we can post entertaining FAIL .gifs on the internet.

[Scarie187]

Hell, yea!

[BlackestKnight]

I may be interested in joining up. Though I want to do something a bit different with my character.

[Laughing Hyena]

We'll cross that road when we come to it. Post in the interested in joining thread then start working up a character. You need two GM stamps for approval. Good luck.

[Scarie187]

Always in need of more.