Maximus - A Superhero/Fantasy AC

[Lighthearter]

Once, we had a sun.

It was dying.

They called themselves the Maximans: they were wizards and witches and sorcerers and summoners from all walks of magic. Runic circles, elemental spellcraft...the list was endless. They were our greatest magicians, and they literally built a new star to replace our dying one. This star they called Maximus, and it shines its green-tinted light on our world to this day.

That was thousands of years ago. Maximus' reality is evident to all, but the story has become a legend. People like legends. Legends make them strong, legends give them purpose, legends give them something to strive for.

You are a legend. You exhibit powers unusual even in this world of magic, whether you've had them your whole life or they've only just started to develop. Or maybe you don't have any particular powers...you just understand the need for theatricality and deception.

For whatever reason, from whatever path you come from...you are now a superhero. You've come to the city of Bastille, along your own path. You've taken it upon yourself to protect the weak, in your own way. This is it. This is the beginning.

Of the new legends of Maximus.

__

Hi, hi, we know the drill, LHAC, Action Chatroom games, I'm the GM and the boss, and all that good stuff. Here's the chatroom.

Disclaimer: I am posting this game after literally five minutes of consideration, based on several half-remembered and hurriedly-compiled old ideas and a proven game system, so it might last for a New York minute or it might be the next long runner, who knows, who cares. All I know is I have no book project at the moment and I'm bored with my video game collection so I have free time to give an AC the attention it deserves and this idea caught my attention at the right moment.

You're a superhero. This game is running on the normal superhero system, which I'll detail in a moment just in case we're not on the same page about what that is. HOWEVER, there is a twist, so please do read ahead.

Fill in this character sheet:

Name:
Alias:
Gender:
Age:
Description:
Bio:

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP:

STR:
DEX:
REF:
VIT:
CON:
INT:
WIS:
AIM:

Preferred Role/Theme:

I'm 99% that you can handle the first segment on your own, so let me recap the rest real quick:

HP: Your hit points. You start with 10 plus 3 for each point of Vitality you have. You gain 10 per level, plus 1 for each 2 points of VIT you have over 5.

You start with 5 points in each stat, plus 15 more. Minimum is 1, maximum is 10.

STR: Strength. Raw muscle power. Affects moving things physically, and melee damage.
DEX: Dexterity. Flexibility and speed. Affects delicate physical activity, and melee hit chance.
REF: Reflex. Reaction speed and muscle memory. Affects dodging, recovery from stunning, and acrobatics.
VIT: Vitality. Resilience. Affects resistance to poisons and other concoctions and effects, and HP.
CON: Concentration. Ability to focus, and memory. Affects resistance to some stunning effects, tracking, and power hit chance.
INT: Intelligence. Brainpower and computer skills. Affects computer interaction, power damage, and knowledge checks.
WIS: Wisdom. Street smarts and common sense. Affects psychic abilities and ranged damage.
AIM: Aim. Eyesight and hand-eye coordination. Affects visual perception and ranged hit chance.

Preferred Role/Theme: And here's the twist. You don't get to choose your powers - rather, you'll discover them yourself as the game goes on. At game start, record what you'd like to have, and I promise I will not only "take that into account" when I add your abilities, but at least one or two of your initial powers WILL be what you've recorded, even if I won't promise which ONES. This little statement of yours here will be referred to every time you level up enough that I consider giving you a new power or stat improvement. It can take any form you like: a bullet-point list of the powers you'd like in which order, a sentence describing the role you'd enjoy playing, or anything else you can imagine. Just remember that I'm only obligated to listen to your desires on specific powers during character creation, so I highly advise adding at least a token sentence about how you'd like to progress and level up. If you want to clarify that your character is a BadassNormal with no powers, here is where to do it - just add a list of SKILLS you'd like them to have.

The world of Maximus is a fantasy world: there are a substantial number of magicians, and there are many, many varied arts, so almost anything you could draw on for inspiration is allowed. The game takes place in essentially this world's equivalent of NYC: Bastille, a big metropolitan hub with a bit of everything in it and a serious crime problem. It's the capital of its nation, which currently has no name but I view as being a representative democracy of some sort. The world has a modern technological level, though if people think Cold War-esque or 20MinutesIntoTheFuture would be more fun, I'm fine with that.

I have no preconceptions at all about what this world looks like otherwise, so if you want to add mentions of...I dunno, vampires, elves, dark elves, dragons, orcs, whatever, then sure, I'll add that to canon. If you want to make up villains and allies and stuff, feel free, but remember that this is an origin story, as opposed to sidekicks which had an established 'verse prior to game start. If there's a personal history between you and your villains, it needs to have happened pre-superheroing, since canonically your first missions will be your...well, first missions.

The only other note is that I'm returning to Saviors 2 for a bit of inspiration: everyone will get a solo of some sort to establish their abilities for themselves. Any people who want cooperative backstories can have their initial solos together, and anyone who wants can insist their solo be done via Steam to keep their abilities and skills secret from the team(avoids looking at DT ). If you supply villains and details and such that make sense to me, I'll add them into the prologue missions.

The most likely time for missions will be, as per usual for me, Tuesday or Thursday evenings at 5 EST, however I am completely willing to discuss Monday or Wednesday or different schedules if this doesn't work. I have no set plan whatsoever at this moment.

Can't shake a feeling that I've forgotten something pretty substantial in this OP, but I'm positive you people will let me know about that for the rest of my life so not too worried

TALLY HO! Next 2 posts reserved, though who knows if I'll DO anything with them

 

[Lighthearter]

Reserve 1 - Character list? Lore? WHO KNOWS WHO CARES I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS AGAIN AAAHHHHH

 

[Lighthearter]

Reserve 2 - Game log? Power list? City map? I'll figure it out sooner or later, better to have and not need!

LET'S GET THIS TRAINWRECK ON THE ROAD! WOOO THIS IS GONNA CRASH AND EXPLODE AND BURN SO BADLY BUT I DON'T CARE ANYMORE I LITERALLY HAVE NO LIFE

Post as you want!

 

[Patchy]

Name: Argumus
Alias: None at the moment
Gender: Male
Age: Relative to humans he's in his early to mid twenties
Description: A brown-furred rat with a long prehensile tail and opposable thumbs.
Bio: Currently a work in progress with DT

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP: 28

STR: 1
DEX: 7
REF: 8
VIT: 6
CON: 10
INT: 10
WIS: 6
AIM: 7

Preferred Role/Theme: Give me something *fun*

 

[Dem Taqat]

Name: Harry Carpenter
Alias: The Watcher
Gender: Male
Age: Mid-20s. Probably.
Appearance: Harry is tall and dark haired, with a slightly muscled edge to his frame. His normal clothing are a professional shirt and dark trousers, and these remain the basis for his nighttime adventures. They are supplemented by a dark hooded jacket bearing the emblem of a stylized white eye, along with a bandolier full of potions, and an intricately carved cane. He wears an unobtrusive silver pendant around his neck at almost all times. For all that his clothing does little to obscure his identity, people struggle to remember his exact appearance. Its surely a problem with them, he would certainly notice if his appearance was changing. Right?
Bio:

Spoiler A Guy Who Is Not Crazy :

Harry was born outside Bastille, in the neighboring city of Freeport, where his birth papers state that he is legally considered human despite the various other genes floating around his system. It was not until he left home for higher education that he made his way to the city, although his life before then was far from uninteresting. For almost as long as he can remember, he has suffered from hallucinations, predominantly in the form of people talking to him. The most persistent of these voices identifies as 'Rose' who alternates between annoyingly possessive commentary, encouraging his innate paranoia, and providing surprisingly accurate information seemingly from nowhere. Upon beginning his sociological studies at St. Blackstone university, Harry began sessions with a new therapist, a dwarf named Dr. Tinbeard, who took the opinion he was suffering from some form of schizophrenia. The Doctor offered Harry a simple new solution to the problem, an amulet intended to suppress the effects of the disease, the effects of which Rose found to be entirely satisfactory after a few weeks of trial.

During his university times, Harry took up a place in the potions club, his alchemical hobby having persisted since then, and rapidly alienated everybody with whom he attempted to share a house. The result is that he finds himself living alone in a relatively run-down section of town, along with a colony of rats around the basement he uses as a potions lab. The surprisingly low price of his accommodations was explained soon after by the arrival of ghost hunter Yoanas-mesm, to ask him about reports of a number of ghosts haunting the local residences. Completely unaware of the situation, Harry inadvertently aroused the man's suspicion with his habit of talking to Rose, and found himself unknowingly being investigated as a possible subject of ghostly possession.

Of course, this not being the case, Yoanas-mesm was eventually forced to admit to defeat on that front, but the two met several more times while the hunt continued, and finding they were both Freeport natives provided a sense of common ground. In the process of learning more about Yoanas' profession, Harry found himself all but accidentally learning the basics of fighting; the old cane-sword he kept as a home-defense weapon being close enough to Yoamas' chosen sword for the skills involved to be surprisingly applicable. This impromptu apprenticeship continued for several months as Yoanas' continued his actual work, and the two have kept in sporadic contact since he returned home.

After a few years, Harry finished his degree, and rapidly found himself struggling to get by in even his cheap house. When he finally did manage to obtain a job, it was perhaps the worst possibility imaginable: the government. Despite Rose' vocal complaints, Harry decided to go along with it, in hopes of at the very least gaining an understanding of how much data they had on him. This task became notably less onerous when he encountered another young college leaver he recognized: Nhildra Telyn, a former member of the alchemy club. Although she was significantly more invested in the work than he, the two newcomers quickly struck up a friendship, much to Rose' displeasure.

The most recent occurrence to shake up Harry's life was the startling reminder that he did not actually reside alone. This came in the form of Argamus, a talking rat from the colony that shared the building with him. After a few rather tense moments that only further fuelled Harry's ever-present paranoia, the two got off on a surprisingly good foot, and quickly agreed to work together in order to keep both of them living happily in the house. This companionable arrangement was soon disrupted however, when an intruder forced the two of them to work together to keep themselves safe. As far as Harry was concerned however, this was the last straw; final proof that somebody, somewhere in the dank criminal underworld or shining upper society of Bastille, had taken an unhealthy interest in his affairs.

Ignoring Argumus somewhat amused reaction to this claim, Harry prepared for his own counterstrike. Somebody had to take down this conspiracy, and with only the three of them in the know, it was up to them. Preparing an array of potions, the sword he half-remembered how to wield, and his reluctant companions, Harry set out into the night as 'The Watcher' to take down the corruption around him and make Bastille safe again. How fortunate he had been cured of his craziness.

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP: 28

Stats:
STR: 6
DEX: 7
REF: 8
VIT: 6
CON: 10
INT: 10
WIS: 2
AIM: 6

Preferred Role/Theme: Unstable Reality Warper. His actual powers tend to be more subtle than obvious, and his stock of alchemical potions allows him to play a primarily supportive role in combat.

DT

 

[KaiserElectric]

Name: Cassidy Su
Alias: Wukong / Monkey Queen
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Appearance: Possessing a thin athletic body that's just a bit on the tall side (for now), Cassidy is a Huaxian (OTL Chinese) half-elf with green eyes, slightly pointed ears, and a shoulder length jet black shag haircut which naturally assumes a perfectly messy look. She dresses somewhat professionally, with a buttoned shirt and loose tie, dark trousers, and her favorite dark blue trench jacket.

Taking inspiration from Sun Wukong, the main character of the Huaxian classical novel Journey to the West, Cassidy's superhero costume invokes the look of an Asian monk, with a loose oriental-style hooded robe and trousers in a red and gold color scheme. Her costume also contains finger-less gloves with bracers and bandage foot-wraps. She wears a sash around the lower half of her face to conceal her identity as well.

Bio: A native of Bastille, Cassidy's family name is the stuff of legends. Stretching as far back as the ancient Lu Dynasty of Huaxia, the Su family lineage has a proud history of supremely talented alchemists and scientists. Cassidy's ancestors have had the privilege of consorting with great magical beings of all kinds and pushing the boundaries of the arcane sciences farther then most humans in known history. Having emigrated to the [US] following the collapse of the last Huaxian Dynasty, the Su family have since continued their successes in the field of alchemy, setting up one of the most successful chemical companies in the [US] thanks to their amazing innovations. Cassidy Lu, the latest generation of this esteemed family of arcane scholars, has absolutely none of her forbearer's talent.

Indeed, much of Cassidy's life has been dominated by her complete ineptitude in the field of alchemy compared to the rest of her family. While her ancestors were renowned for curing plagues and brewing concoctions comparable to the magic produced by the great Eastern dragons, Cassidy is lucky if she is able to boil water without blowing anything up. Again. With every attempt at alchemy ending in disappointment and the occasional trip to the burn ward, Cassidy's failure at alchemy would follow her everywhere she went, even at school. Since "every Su was a talented alchemist", she often found herself being drafted into alchemy and science related classes and extracurricular activity, only to disappoint everyone involved when she inevitably failed. In truth she was more interested in the arts like her elfish mother and thought she had something of a flair for the dramatic, but she was too constrained by her family's reputation to pursue anything different.

Often considered a disappointment, even by most of her family, she nevertheless managed to find work at one of her family's institutions, working in a secretarial position at an alchemy research facility. A thoroughly unremarkable position with decent pay and hours, she was pleased to find something she was at least competent in, as well as working in the family business in a way that wouldn't risk life or limb. Or so she thought...

Notable Individuals:

John Su: Cassidy's father, a talented alchemist in a high ranking position at the family company. He's pleased that his daughter works for the company now, but his disappointment in Cassidy's lack of talent has always been evident.

Eletha Su: Cassidy's elfish mother, a talented artist and socialite who married into the Su family. She was never as disapproving of Cassidy's lack of skill in alchemy as the rest of the family, instead preferring to be entirely indifferent to the whole affair.

Zhang Su: Cassidy's younger brother. He's still in high school, but has clearly inherited the talent that skipped his older sibling. Often considered the favorite child, which Cassidy resented, Zhang always liked his sister and has always tried to give her the kindness that their parents didn't.

Nhildra Telyn: Cassidy's friend since High School, a sultry drow female known for being a troublemaker. The two often got stuck in detention together, usually the result of Kassidy blowing something up in the lab, and they've been best friends ever since. Nhildra now works for the government and is looking to get into politics.

Tybalt: Cassidy's pet, a young Tonkinese that Zhang got for her as a birthday present. Pretty much your standard house cat, with the notable exception of some magic that allows him to speak fluently in English, Elvish, and sarcasm.

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP: 40

Stats:
STR: 10
DEX: 9
REF: 9
VIT: 10
CON: 5
INT: 2
WIS: 5
AIM: 5

Preferred Role/Theme: I'd like to have bestial shapeshifting powers, anything ranging from partial stuff (growing wings, claws, et al) to full blown transformations, which I think would fit nicely into a frontline fighter who goes in fists a-blazing.

 

[Lighthearter]

Cassidy, Harry and Argumnus all added to the stats sheet and issued with their powers and abilities. What I will reveal is that Harry I issued a mid-level skill in alchemy, and Cassidy an absolute minimum skill(she has to at least understand the fundamentals of the art, coming from the background she does, after all) and a mid-level skill with Bureaucracy due to secretary work.

First solo will be Monday night at 5EST, and will likely be for Argumnus and Harry. If we get through it in time, I'll roll right into Cassidy's. The other solos will take place over next Tuesday and Thursday nights, and the first actual mission will probably be the NEXT Monday.

 

[Kinich-Ahau]

Just so we're clear, WIS covers psychic defenses in addition to psychic offenses, right?

 

[Lighthearter]

Yes, that's correct.

 

[Celticfury]

Name: Elizabeth Vallen
Alias: Hope
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Description: Elizabeth is a woman of average height with a lithe, athletic build. She has short, blond hair. When out of uniform, she tend to wear very casual clothes, usual t-shirts and sweats or jeans. When she transforms, she wears a blue and silver suit with a cape.

Bio: Short version; Elizabeth was orphaned young, grew up on streets. Gets adopted/taken in by Warrick Ramsey, a former police officer, at age 12. He and his wife take care of her, get her a decent education, and help steer her on a moral path. When Elizabeth graduates school, she decides to follow in Warrick’s footsteps and join the police force, hoping to make a difference in her old neighborhood like Warrick did for her. Unfortunately, the Bastille Police Department suffers from a major case of corruption, with many incidents being covered up to avoid controversy. Struggling to maintain her idealism, Elizabeth becomes increasingly disillusioned with her career.

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP: 31

STR: 7
DEX: 7
REF: 9
VIT: 7
CON: 4
INT: 4
WIS: 8
AIM: 9

Preferred Role/Theme: Fighter, more Scrapper than Tank.

 

[Red_Spy]

Name: Yette-mesm
Alias: Uh, I ain't no superhero.
Gender: Female
Age: 20 at time of death.
Description: At the time of her death, she was a minuscule, black-haired, elf with a rather prominent pointy nose and, even for an elf, set of ears. Now that's dead she appears, well, ghost-y? I'll talk to you later on what that means.
Bio: Yette was born the child of Yoanas and Delia-mesm, two elves living in Freeport. Yette would spend most of her childhood in the care of her mother, Delia. Her father had earned himself a career as a noted ghost hunter, and he would frequently spent months away from home travelling around the country to assist people in dealing with their spectral problems. Yette would never call herself a fan of her father's work; in fact, one would say she had a disdain for it. He was never there in her formative years, and for that reason she rather resented him and his work.

What Yette lost in her home lift she tried to make up in her social life, however. She always tried to be active and friendly as a young child; something she maintained for most of her life. While friendships were never a sore spot, her studies were. While she certainly wasn't a bad student, when she arrived at St. Blackstone University she came with almost the minimum level of grades and no real plan for her college education. Yette went to college expecting to find her perfect plan for the future, but instead she would constantly bounce between areas of studies and performing poorly at them.

And then Yette died. No, that's actually what happened. And how she died? Well, she won't say and if she does give a hint, it would be certain to conflict with a previous hint. What's important is that now she had to come to terms with the fact she is dead. Following that was the realization she was a ghost, an entity her father had made his business out of hunting. For a while of hiding out and thinking things over, Yette decided that, for better or for worse, she had to follow in her father's footsteps if she has a chance at "surviving" at being a ghost.

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP: 40

Attributes:

• STR: 1
• DEX: 9
• REF: 9
• VIT: 10
• CON: 4
• INT: 7
• WIS: 7
• AIM: 8

Preferred Role/Theme: She be a ghost. Whatever you'd like that deals with that fact.

 

[Kinich-Ahau]

Name: Leslie Miller
Alias: Sawbones
Gender: Female
Age: Late teens to early twenties
Description: Taller than average, with brown hair and brown eyes. She's very curious, and tends to dress conservatively & practically. Has gag boobs.
Bio: She was part of a group of beings who'd spent their entire lives (literally since birth- her parents were hostages, too) being held hostage and experimented on by the mad alchemist Monsignac Ambrosio. When Dr. Ambrosio was finally apprehended the government did its best to educate and integrate his many test subjects into society, but inevitably several fell through the cracks and were left to wander the streets. Leslie was one of those individuals, and, after discovering her talent for healing and negotiation, decided to put those talents to good use.

Level: 1
XP: 0
HP: 40

Stats:

• STR: 3
• DEX: 3
• REF: 8
• VIT: 10
• CON: 1
• INT: 10
• WIS: 10
• AIM: 10

Preferred Role/Theme: Charismatic healer and negotiator, with some team support abilities thrown in. Likes to be prepared for anything.

 

[Lighthearter]

My parents are returning home tonight(I don't know when tonight), so I am postponing the mission by one week. To make up for this, everyone gets a solo if they want it. DT, Patchy and Red can choose to take their solo together(in response to that note) or separately, if they want to do other things. I suppose others could link up for "solos" if they wanted, but there's definitely a 3player cap on them. I'm free to do solos Thursday afternoon(and maybe tomorrow as well) and over the day Friday and Saturday.

We almost certainly won't get everyone's solos in prior to next mission, but I'll structure both the solos and the mission so that's not an issue - the exception being that I really need to get the note solo done before next mission, for chronology's sake more than plot's. I also intend to keep up this practice over the AC(sort of in the vein of the MCU...solo adventures interspersed with group projects). I'm on the fence about whether these solos give XP, but they are chances to experiment with your powers, meet and interact with NPCs, and keep secrets from the other PCs.

Also, anyone with ideas for villains, plot elements, NPCs, even powers - shoot them my way. It's never too late!

And for those complaining about the XP not having gone up yet, that's something else I'll handle over next week. And if I don't, eventually I'll just start awarding levels more or less at random, so there is no lose situation for you

-L

 

[Lighthearter]

I seriously underestimated the Xmas situation on my end...in light of complicated adjustments to my schedule and other commitments coming to light, I'm putting Maximus on hiatus until at least the new year. I really hate to do this, but I don't have much of a choice. When the time comes, we'll see if you you guys and myself want to resume this or start a new AC. Apologies.