Self-Starters... of EVIL! Muahahahah!

In most comics we tend to catch the heroes and villains already set up with all manner of advantages at their command.

The X-Mansion, The Fortress of Solitude, The Avengers Mansion, The Baxter Building, The Hall of Justice or the Watchtower.
I guess that's why we like seeing "In the beginning" kinds of stories with supers, to show us how they were back when the Batmobile was a converted 1937 Buick and Iron Man's suit was made from Military Surplus.

Heck we saw that sort of thing with that one show "Mutant X" where the team started off from episode one with a secret island base complete with super-science facilities and a Jet more advanced than anything else on earth.

I was thinking of a kind of 'grassroots' game where a group of young villains are brought together by a mysterious benefactor of sorts who feels they could be more efficient as a team than separate. They start with a Victorian house on a farm on the city limits... and whatever they themselves can afford.

I'm kinda leaning towards the idea of the team not having a single 'super' demographic, where their powers come from a variety of sources like Robotics, Mutation, 'Alien' Birth, Bestowed by a greater power or maybe just plain old training. Sort of like an Anti-Avengers mixed bag approach.

Also, more or less the characters would be kinda based loosely off of the Savage Worlds system. The point-based system is simple and fairly easy to create characters with.

This would probably lean more towards open RP though than hardcore dice-rolling.

What do you think, folks?

I'd be up for that. I've got 2 ongoing stories I write in my spare time and one of them is a vigilante-style character, so already got a character set up for that. I like the concept to, as origin stories are often more fun, because not only do you see the heroes in their early stages, but in some cases the villains. Perhaps that's why I liked Batman: Arkham Origins more then Arkham City and Arkham Asylum.

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Just found this. It's a good little super-being related humor that could lend well to this concept.

One suggestion I got from a friend was the idea of everyone being like Peter Parker from Spider-Man and being in High School to imply their inexperience to the whole hero thing... and give them something to worry about other than "Is this hero gonna beat the crap outta me?"

Would we be heroes or villains, now?

To be honest I'd like to do a villain campaign.

Keep in mind there is a big difference between being a bad guy and being a total psychopath.

True in a lot of super villain teams you wind up with one guy who is the really warped killer type but can you imagine a whole team of people like the Joker or Sabretooth? I'd like to avoid that.

It's just that the villains seem to have more fun with their gimmicks and powers than the heroes do. Look at how often they manage to make entire teams with a common 'Theme'. That in itself would be an interesting idea for the game, the characters all fit some kind of 'Theme-based gang'. Or they could be sort of evil versions of heroes from other settings like DC or Marvel (evil Young Justice perhaps?) Maybe the characters all have a problem in trying to hit the big leagues, that for one reason or another they get turned down by the local 'Evil League of Evil'

Also it opens up for gameplay by bringing in some ideas of how to obtain what you need. Or what sort of lines each character would draw in the dirt. (To quote Joker to Captain Nazi: "Thanks for the offer to join but no thanks. I'm evil and all... but you guys are just plain mean." )

I think keeping a fine line between total psyhco and regular villain is good. 'Cause as much as I love the Joker, having two in one scene would kind of ruin it. I do have to ask exactly what the main view on how we'll be portraying heroes and villains though. I, personally, tend to not like the whole 'insert word here'-man thing (Batman gets away with it because he's Batman). I like where there's no definite good or evil, but more several shades of grey. That's just my personal opinion, though, but it'll kinda decide wether I can get onboard with it. That's sort of why I like Batman a lot, because while he is often called a 'Hero' or 'Super hero' he doesn't really have any powers, and can do a lot of questionable things, however keeping that line of never actually killing someone there. On the other hand, I have that character I mentioned on my first post who's a vigilante, anti-hero sort of guy. He fights for good, but does a lot of bad things, such as killing, and at some points working with the Mafia, to achieve those good goals.

TL;DR being, how bright are we gonna make it? Are we gonna go all out classic/partially cheesy with Leagues of heroes and villains and strange names that end in -man or -girl, or a more serious tone?

I think in this setting there is Ultimate good and Ultimate Evil characters but they usually are the cosmic level, but for the most part there would be those who are the various shades in between. Heros who are good for good reasons and bad, villains who are bad for valid reasons and bad reasons.


There are dark heros and villains running about but there will always be room for the flashy, corny types. Why? Because I see in a world with superheroes there would be a sort of 'Superhero culture'. A place where wearing capes and supportive garments on the outside of your spandex, summing up your codename with a Descriptive word and a Gender or using some obscure word from the back of the dictionary is all good.

There might be an industry built up around their presence. Tailors who specialise in sewing mysterious alien fabrics, contractors who build secret lairs and death traps, companies that train and rent out henchmen by the dozen... not to mention the booming construction business who clean up after the Hulks of the world.


Think of it as an Iron-Age setting (The comics that heralded the grim trenchcoat-wearing, gun wielding characters) with a solid silver-Age streak running through it. (Think... "Batman the Brave and the Bold" animated series)






Good Youtube Source material

The Incredibles: Pixar's amazing film about Family bonds and superpowers in a world that thought they no longer needed superheroes.
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"Batman the Brave and the Bold" (Lots of clips on youtube but this has got to be one of my favorite segments from the series)
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"Doctor Horrible Sing-along Blog" Joss Wheedon's astonishingly good made for the web movie about a small-time villain who wants to be a bad guy for good reasons.
Act One
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Act Two
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Act Three
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"Mystery Men" Blue collar superheroes who have been described by one of their members as "We're not the your classic heroes. We're the other guys."
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"The Specials" A group who are known as the world's seventh or eighth greatest super-hero team.
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Oh yes... nearly forgot this one.

Sky High
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I don't watch many films, but I remember hating Sky High and loving The Incredibles. Still, I get the idea now.

I was looking through my notes and found a kind of similar 'starter' game idea.

Long story short Imagine the setting being similar to Batman Beyond. The characters live in a dark crime-ridden city where it's main hero went missing decades ago.

The players will be young with either skills or abilities that make them 'super' in some way, they come across a 'Bolt Hole' that belonged to that old hero and while it's been abandoned for years and the majority of equipment is obsolete it's still a secret headquarters they can base their activities from. Your main 'mentor' is the ancient supercomputer that still runs in the headquarters.

It would be a little darker of a story where the heros would be using more geurilla tactics against the bad guys, seeing as they are so outnumbered.

I quite like that idea. Maybe it's just my need for darker stories.

I like the Batman Beyondish idea, too.  Especially since the heroes in the piece would be the underdogs, and even the authorities would be against them. Especially if the police force, and certain neighborhoods (IE rich) would have an uneasy truce with the gangs and crime syndicates.

I have a mad scientist I can play here if you'd like > Could be fun.

What kind of mad scientist?

Of the Nikola Tesla school of science, maybe with a bit of Dr. Frankenstein thrown in? I posted his bio last night.