Okay! Let's get messy!

Now that everyone (almost everyone) is done (almost done) their backstory and refined their concept, let's get everyone in the same place.

Couple of notes:
-Ghost, you're not quite done, but your responses are great and you're goo to get started here. I might pick a bit at your backstory in the meantime.
-Darius is away for a few weeks, but we'll proceed in his absence. If anyone has a Relationship that you think Darius would be a good match for, please say so. I'd like him to have a few links with the group so there's a space for him when he comes back.
-Try not get into the 'When the Team First Came Together' event. We'll do that next.

I think that's it. Let's get into it!

So my pair is:

• I’ve earned the trust of _________________, and I follow their example of what a hero should be.
• I did something terrible to __________________ once. I hope they can forgive me one day.

The latter of those has already been laid claim to by Susanna, although we still need to iron out the exact circumstances.

I'm still open to suggestions, but I'm pretty sure Darius is going to be the best fit for the former. There's a natural connection between the Reformed and Scion even if their aspirations are a little different, and I feel that more than anyone else Darius looks to be the character whose arc fits with the general sort of direction Alex is headed. I think Susanna could've been an interesting pick for this one if we hadn't already locked the other in - someone who chose to be true hero wholly on her own terms - but for one reason or another I'm not seeing anyone else working here. I might've said Ghost were it not for the fact that trust doesn't really feel like something they should share early on.

I think Darius is a good choice for the first one too. And it's a good one to have in reserve to ease his eventual re-entry.

I've got:

__________ is awesome, and you take every chance you get to hang out with them.

You've got to prove yourself to _________ before you feel like a real hero.


So here's the problem: I feel like Ghost would be the best fit for both.  Susanna would be mortified to know that Ghost and his mentor consider her a wild card when she's trying so hard to be a 'real' hero, but since she doesn't know that yet she'll just want to get approval (and friendship) from someone who's got being a hero in their genes, so to speak.

Unfortunately, given that the group is largely either villain-related, not really all that into the idea of super-heroics, or both, not a lot of the other characters seem like they'd work all that well for either.  If our Joined plays her character as feeling superior to the rest, at least socially speaking, I could see Susanna wanting to prove herself to her in a more general sense than just as a hero, but I'm not sure that's how it will play out.  So I'm open to suggestions.

Just to throw a suggestion out there. Not trying to speak for anyone else or shape their characters:

Maybe Susanna wants to prove herself to Markus because he regards her as some naive newbie who's out of her depth. Their approaches differ enough that he looks at her and sees someone who doesn't appreciate the danger and the gravity of the world she's got herself into (or have what it takes to make a mark on the sort of crime out there), so she's decided that she'll just have to force him to recognise that she deserves to be in the fight.

Being one of the more traditionally 'heroic' characters in the group just means you've got a reason to convince the others to take you seriously.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:16, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

Here's my relationship stuff.
With the first one the obvious choice would be Victoria, the joined. But they'll know each other and be linked closely already, so I was thinking it'd be better to put someone else in this one, spread the connections out. Not sure who yet.

As for the second one, I'm also not sure. My first thought was either Darius or our reformed. Their background as child of a villain and a former villain respectively would give him reason to be suspicious of them to begin with. So refusing to reveal himself at the start would make sense to him. I figure he'd be grouching about it later on, until Vicky pesters him into being social.
He's very much in the Batman attitude until he get's to know them, all suspicion and secrecy.
Except he's pretty inept at it.

That's also something worth pointing out concerning your comment, Susanna. Specifically the part about not being into superheroics.
Not that I'm disagreeing with your take that he might not be someone to prove yourself to. But he is actually very interested in heroics. He'd love to be all Spiderman or Superman, doing good things and inspiring people along the way. Trouble is, all he knows is the Angry Daredevil approach. So he's not unwilling, just inept. And also a frustrated teen, which means he hides it.

This also means he might very well be a bit judgy of you at first too like our reformed suggested. Sure, you're doing right and want to do so. But he's doing it cus he's living it. He ain't got no choice. So you don't get how serious it is. He's hardcore like that.

Eh, that's all just my tired, middle of the night take on all of it. Imma go sleep, see if this makes any sense when I reread it tomorrow.

Not exactly sure it's in Alex's nature to pry, but given that their first meeting is going to involve a direct collision with her past it'd make sense if Markus wanted to hold back on opening up. Can't imagine he'd be keen to tie his civilian ID to someone whose true identity is already known to those who might seek to do them harm. Far more trouble than it's worth.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:34, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

Still working on the finishing touches on my background but I wanted to post these here before I take the night to sleep on the background stuff.

Protege Playbooks relationships are:

You and ________ teamed up a few times from before the rest of you came together.

Your mentor is cautious; they asked you to keep an eye on _______.


@Reformed: I'm happy to get skipped for your first relationship, I think it'll be more fun to start off a bit contentious.

@Susanna: Part of my playbook is picking a demeanor, playful or business and I think depending on that choice Ghost slots into one or the other really well. I was leaning playful initially and I'm still wanting to go that way so Ghost may be a better fit for the first option.

@Darius: I think you(or he if he's totally MIA) are the best fit for someone that Ghost has worked with previously as everyone else seems a bit wet behind the ears on the heroic side of things.

@Everyone: I'm totally open to pitches but with everyone on the team being villain adjacent or a bit of an unknown commodity/wildcard I think it makes it make sense for EVERYONE to fall under this relationship. No matter how close we all get down the road the team was at least partially formed under false pretenses, if/when it eventually comes out I think it'd make for some juicy drama as long as everyone is up for it.

Oh and I get free stuff from my mentor. I think I get the final say but if anybody has feelings about resources it'd be fun for the team to play around with, I'd love to hear them. Choose up to 3 resources that your mentor gave you and the team:

A hidden base, a vehicle, a supercomputer, communicators, surveillance equipment, false identities, badges of authority, a chem lab, a med lab, a teleportal, a weapon of last resort, security systems, simple robots
This message was last edited by the player at 06:16, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

No worries here.  The Joined playbook makes me pick literally anyone except  you for relationship questions.  Makes sense that Markus' two relationships should be spread around to other folks as well.

When Markus selects which character knew him from his previous life ... they will also get this one:  You are jealous of the relationship between your other half and _________________, and you keep trying to interject yourself.

I have the second relationship ready to go [narrowed it down to two] but I'll let Markus answer his relationship question first because I've decided that his answer will answer lock in one of Victoria's.  Once that one is set, I'll be able to name the second without risk of having the same name being used twice.

This feels like Oscars night! And who will the winner be in this category? :D

Anyway, yes, agreed on going with Janus as a good fit for who Susanna wants to impress — if he’s generally dark and brooding then she would tend to see that as a challenge of sorts, and I could see her doing some combination of ‘trying to impress’ and ‘coaxing out of his shell’. Which might easily really annoy him, now that I type it out, but I think that would create some good interpersonal drama. :)

And if Ghost is going with the more playful demeanor that would be great, though it could work pretty well with the all-business angle as well, just again with the addition of Susanna trying to get him to relax a little also.

Which leaves the question of what happened to Susanna’s brother, which still needs to be settled. How much detail do we want there?

One quick note: although the "When the Team First Came Together" scene is the first time all five or six of you were in the same place, fighting as a single unit, you may all have come across each other beforehand. Maybe you crossed paths crime-fighting, maybe teamed up together once or twice, that sort of thing.

So the Relationships can reflect pre-first-scene familiarity.

I'll admit to getting a bit confused when trying to keep six different characters straight when they can interchangeably be referred to by civilian name, hero name, and also playbook.

Here is a list of what everyone has selected:

-Alex (aka Barghest, the Reformed)
-Darius (aka Night Spawn, the Scion)
-James (aka Ghost, the Protege)
-Markus (aka Payback, the Janus)
-Susanna (aka Indigo, the Beacon
-Victoria (aka Ultion, the Joined)

A lot of side conversations happening in the relationships thread.  Sometimes open questions get lost in the shuffle, here is where things stand:

Alex [aka Barghest, the Reformed]

I’ve earned the trust of _________________, and I follow their example of what a hero should be. [Leaning toward Darius, open to suggestions]

I did something terrible to Susanna  once. I hope they can forgive me one day.

---

Susanna (aka Indigo, the Beacon)

James is awesome, and you take every chance you get to hang out with them.

You've got to prove yourself to Markus before you feel like a real hero.

---

Markus (aka Payback, the Janus)

_____ knew you from your civilian life first.

You refused to tell ______ your secret identity when they asked. [thinking either Darius or Alex]

---

James (aka Ghost, the Protege)

You and ________ teamed up a few times from before the rest of you came together. [leaning toward Darius]

Your mentor is cautious; they asked you to keep an eye on _______.

---

Victoria (aka Ultion, the Joined)

When you have problems with your other half, you talk to _________________. [I have the two names ready to go for this one. Just want to deconflict it from the second answer so the same name doesn't get used to answer both of Victoria's questions]

You are jealous of the relationship between your other half and _________________, and you keep trying to interject yourself. [When Markus selects their first relationship ... that name will go here as well.]

---

Darius (aka Night Spawn, the Scion)

TBD
This message was last edited by the player at 14:34, Wed 08 Feb 2023.

Mine are fairly settled on Ghost for the first and Payback for the second. My sheet is mostly done, but I’m brand new to the system so I’m still figuring some things out. :)

Well my first one is pretty open. It comes down to who wants to have known Markus before he became Payback, and if it makes sense.
So I'm open to suggestions there.

And the second one is as mentioned either Alex or Darius. Still debating that one.

Totally get the confusion on switching between the names though.

Out of curiosity, how are people thinking their comstumes will look like? I was always thinking that Payback's costume would be very basic. What I've landed on is essentially something like Casey Jones from TMNT. A hockey mask or similar, and a hoodie, over nondescript clothes. Things that are easily replaceable when destroyed, and easily disposed of. He is very much the street vigilante. The most unique thing about him would be that he carries around stuff to easily "load up" his powers. A taser to load up on electricity, metal and rubber beads to mimic the substances, etc.