Introduction

Welcome to "The Gift of Power." This game, like many others on RPOL, involves superheroes. However, it features a unique, efficient, and exciting way of resolving the incredible battles that are the backbone of superhero comics: competitive writing.

The Competitive Writing System

In this game, whenever two or more players' characters come into conflict with one another, their players will both write a post telling us how the battle unfolds. These posts can be as short or as long as necessary. However, they must focus on the perspective of the writer's player character. That doesn't mean that they need to be written in first person ("I leap out of the way just as the grenade smashes through the window!)." Instead, it just means that they writer needs to show us what the battle looks and feels like from their character's point of view ("His heart raced as beam after beam ripped apart the truck he was using for cover.)"

After all players have made their post, the best post will then be declared "semi-canon." The others will be declared non-canon. Finally, I (or another GM) will then use the "semi-canon" post (as well as some of good bits or details from the non-canon posts) as the basis for the canon post. This canon post will serve as the resolution to the conflict. Once the canon post has been made, the players will regain control of their characters as they recover from and react to the battle's final resolution.

How will the GMs determine which posts are better? When making the call, the GMs will look for three things: how accurately the post portrays the powers and personalities of the characters involved, how well-written and detailed the post is, and how interesting the post makes the battle and outcome feel.

Now, when it comes to death, I understand that players naturally get attached to their characters. As such, player characters will only die when their player agrees to have them killed off. Nevertheless, player characters will lose battles and be forced to retreat, hide, get captured, or be left for dead regardless of their player's approval.

As for my involvement, when a GM's character is one of the possible victors of a conflict, I will appoint an uninvolved player the "temporary GM." He or she will then decide the outcome of the battle based on our posts, just as I normally would.

Lastly, since GMs are not infallible, a player can request that we "retcon" the winner of a writing battle once a calendar month. If a player can then get two (number subject to change with game size) other players to agree that the battle's outcome should be changed, it will be. I ask you to please avoid abusing this feature. In addition, please avoid trying to retcon a battle that was resolved more than two days prior to the current date.

The Story So Far...

The year is 2036. Fifteen years ago, a group of amateur archeologists led by internet-famous conspiracy theorist David Ort uncovered an artifact deep in the Amazon Rainforest. The artifact, a ring of light encased in a metallic wheel dotted with buttons, seemed to vindicate all of Ort's beliefs at first. He hailed it as "the find of the millennium," the "key to exposing the truth," and "my greatest achievement." And for once, important people agreed! Dozens of scientists, journalists, and even government representatives were suddenly demanding his time and a look at his discovery. Eventually, all of these analysts came to a conclusion: the ring of light was most likely powered by a string of fusion reactors too small to be examined by normal instruments.

As soon as that discovery was made, the United States government ordered Ort to turn over the artifact (and offered to make him a billionaire if he complied). When he did not immediately comply, their army prepared to take it by force. Luckily for him, the always-weary Ort suspected as much and managed to flee just as the army broke into his home. Unfortunately for him, the artifact was damaged by a stray bullet during his escape. Suddenly, the ring of light was gone!

Fearing that all was lost, Ort tried everything he could to reactivate the ring. He spent days on end examining the bullet hole and used every tool he could buy to fiddle with the device's innards. Finally, he ran tens of thousands of volts of electricity through it. It was that mistake that cost him his life. The electricity managed to reactivate the device for a scant three seconds. During those three seconds, thousands of nearly-microscopic lights on the device suddenly activated, waves and waves of energy emerged from the ring, and an explosion tore apart the artifact and atomized everything within a 100-foot radius.

Following the explosion, the world carried on as normally as possible. But, approximately three years later, a hundred individuals scattered across the Earth suddenly began to experience impossibly vivid dreams. They awoke from these dreams with superhuman abilities and the burning desire to fulfill some lofty goal that was once confined to their subconscious. Some hailed the awakening of "The Gifted" as the harbinger of humanity's end, others believe it to be an odd evolutionary quirk. Still others believe they are avatars of powerful inter-dimensional beings.

Whatever The Gifted actually are, more and more are "awakening" each year. Indeed, the best current estimates places the population at around 7,200. And everywhere they go, The Gifted change things. Some have sparked rebellions, others used their power to obtain fame and fortune, and several have become watchful protectors of their friends, family, and city. Interestingly, an odd few Gifted have escaped to previously unknown islands in the Pacific Ocean with their families.

Society, now comprehending The Gifted's ability to shape the future, has begun to recruit them into their armies and legislate their power usage. Indeed, in most countries, publicly displaying a "dangerous" power is more illegal than firing a gun in the middle of a crowd. Still, The Gifted have not been tamed. In fact, thanks to a mysterious benefactor calling himself "Namidias," those among the Gifted with dangerous, destructive urges have access to all the resources they need to throw the world into chaos. And they are using them.

Countless cities have been leveled by the "Namidian Wave," and there is no place on Earth that is truly safe from (for lack of a better term) supervillains. Yet there is hope. For, in addition to the rogue Gifted who stand up and combat the Wave on their own, an international task force known as the "International Tactical Superhuman Defense Agency" has been formed to "wipe out superhuman terrorism." Although they have not yet been able to track down Namidias, they are proving themselves highly capable of combating even the fiercest villains.

Now, with the world in chaos, it's time for a new generation of Gifted to take the stage. What will they do with The Gift of Power? No one knows yet. But they will..

Rules

1) Do not abuse or harass other players. This is meant to be a fun, albeit competitive, storytelling game. Abuse and harassment will only ruin that. If you have a serious problem with another player, I ask you to send me a message before getting into a flame war with them. That way, I can do my best to resolve the issue fairly and peacefully.

2) Write "Non-Canon Battle Post" at the top of all of your Battle Posts.

3) Keep things PG-13. This doesn't mean you can't deal with complex themes or anything; just don't make the violence and sexual content too explicit.

3) Do not obsess over the outcome of inter-player conflicts. If one particular outcome really bothers you, you can use your "retcon" privilege to try and alter an outcome once a month. And while I have no problem with you discussing why you disagree with the decision that I and/or another GM made, I ask you not to bog down the game with disagreement. The story and show, after all, must go on!

4) Don't be a sore winner or insult the writing abilities of your fellow players. This will be counted as abuse. Everyone's writing, including the work of the world's most acclaimed authors, has weak spots. Moreover, the opinions of the individuals who GM these games are far from an objective measure of quality (if such a thing could even exist). As such, attempting to judge a person's overall skill based on the outcome of the battles in this game is ridiculous.

5) Stick to the story. I want the story we tell together to be cohesive, so please don't bring in supernatural elements that are totally unrelated to "The Gifted" and please keep your character's goal in mind while roleplaying them. In addition, I ask you to read the other player's character bios and as many of their posts as possible. This will keep everyone on the same page and should help us make the story better together.

6) Keep yourself active. It's okay if you can't post everyday, but the other players shouldn't have to wait too long for you to make your "battle" post. Because of this, if you do not post your version of the battle within 48 hours of the battle's beginning, the other player wins by default. An exception can be made if you notify the GM and the other players involved in the conflict that your post will be late.

7) Respect each other's characters. Don't use your post to make another's player's character act like an idiot or otherwise out of character. Also, remember that your posts are partially judged on how accurately you portray the characters within them.

8) Keep your powers and their strength within reason. If your character can't be killed in a battle with an extremely skilled human assassin that's analzed all of his or her weaknesses, they are probably too strong. That doesn't mean that you can't have skin of steel, but you can't have skin of steel, a force field that can survive a nuclear blast, and mind control abilities. Also, remember that, because of our battle system, the various characters' power levels can't be extremely far apart. Otherwise, the player with the weaker character would have a large disadvantage!

9) Feel free to make as many characters as you can keep up with.

10) Have fun with the game and be creative. Let your posts bring this world, and all the superheroes and villains within it, to life. Make the battles exciting, have the superheroes think on their feet and come up with new ways to use their powers, have the villains use every dirty trick in the book, and think about how the world around the combatants reacts to the fight. Does a crowd of civilians run and hide from the falling buildings? Do the police start firing and force the hero to seek cover? Does the hero have to distract the villain while the hostages flee? If so, tell us all about it! A little bit of detail will go a long way in making our fantasy world feel real.

11) Please keep OOC chatter inside paranthesis and precede it with "OOC:." This should look something like (OOC: Message)


To join the game, please fill out the Request To Join form I've posted in a seperate topic and PM the completed form to me.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:25, Tue 28 Apr 2015.