Metropolis of Superheroes
Story:
Welcome to Paragon City, youngster. I bet you've heard the tales of this place, right? The place where heroes and villains duke it out on a daily basis, the place where mad scientists unleash armies of their bizarre creations and supernatural cultists perform vile rituals to appease their otherworldly masters... And the only ones who can stand in their way and stop them? Why, that's you, kiddo. That's right, you work for the Protective Response and Operations Committee, or P.R.O.C, from here on out. Now don't you worry, you'll get to see and tour our facilities soon enough.
For now though, let's head on inside and meet some other of the fresh faces who you'll probably end up working with at least once or twice. Don't worry, you've all passed the initial written exam, as well as the psyche-screening and aptitude tests, so you're all qualified to be here. Hah, brings me back to the old days when a not-so-confident young hero like you first arrived on our door. Who woulda thunk that kid would go on to become one of Paragon City's biggest names, huh? You keep that in mind, youngster. No matter what anyone tells you, you're the one who shape your future. Just a bit friendly advise from an old man, haha.
Oh, we're here. You excited? You're gonna meet some of your peers, as well as the representatives of ELITE, GIFT, DATA, MAGI and SERAPH. Once all the formalities are squared away, and you've signed on with your appropriate outfit, you'll be all set. A fully licensed, registered and honest-to-goodness Paragon City superhero. Nifty, eh? Good luck out there, kid. Who knows? You might just be the next big name for the Wall of Fame.
Paragon City, a large metropolis located somewhere in North America of Alternate Earth, in the parallel dimension. Here, individuals with remarkable skills, powers or traits spend their day fighting and opposing the forces of criminals, lunatics, natural disasters, supernatural phenomenon and more. Some were born with great powers, others awakened to them, still some gained them by acccident while others are just your average joe who trained and worked really hard to push themselves to their absolute peak. Whatever their background or situation, they're the Heroes who work tirelessly each and every day, to keep this vast city safe - both for themselves and their own loved ones, as well as the many innocent and hard-working citizens who call this place home.
Over the last few decades though, the city has seen a rise in crime, incidents, disasters and mysterious events. To combat this growing problem, several different specialized task forces were formed, each charged with dealing and resolving their respective situations and maladies. However, the groups couldn't curb the tides on their own - and so, an organizational and administrative over-agency was formed; PROC - Or, the Protective Response and Operations Committee. A Paragon City administration department tasked with directing and managing the forces of ELITE, GIFT, MAGI, DATA and SERAPH. Under their guidance, the five factions have managed to keep Paragon City from suffering complete and total catastrophe, time and time again.
And now, it's your turn.
No matter your background or origin, be you a native or someone who moved here, you're now a resident of Paragon City. At the age of at least 16, you also decided to take the "Sanctioned Hero Exam". Your reasons for this are your own, but needless to say, you successfully passed. Now, you're about to step into the world of Heroes and Villains, face dangers and disasters, protect the innocent and stop the wicked. It's time for you to become a Superhero.
Setting:
As you can possibly tell, if you're familiar with it, this RP is heavily based on that good old MMORPG, City of Heroes™. It takes place on an alternate Earth in another reality, in a Post-Modern timeline. As you can tell by the intro above, you'll be playing the role of freshly recruited, young and bright-eyed heroes who've just joined up with the Paragon CIty superhero organization. From there, you'll get to go on action-packed adventures, fighting crime, stopping natural disasters, investigating strange occurrences, saving helpless civilians and all that other goody-goody stuff.
Of course, heroes can't be on the clock 24/7, unless they're Batman. So, you'll have time off to live your regular life and do your daily routines as well. But whenever that little communicator that you received starts a-buzzin', it's time to excuse yourself from class, take an early lunch-break at work or get outta your mom's basement and report to Headquarters - 'cuz something's a-foot! Unnamed Hero Group A, assemble~!
So, if you're up to fighting legions of robotic soldiers, cracking down on street gangs, stopping a radioactive godzilla-knock off lumbering towards town, thwarting the plans of extra-dimensional demons and just saving a little girl from the balcony of a burning building... Look no further! We've got you covered, fam.
Information:
As this is based on an old MMO, we'll be having some elements of that in the RP. Mostly for mechanical purposes. Oh, and you won't start off at the level of heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, The Hulk or Iron Man. To get there, you're gonna have to put in some elbow grease and save the day. Multiple times.
At the start of the RP, you'll make your character and select an Origin - which is basically what the cause of your superpower is, as well as an Archetype, which is basically your "class" or the "role" you'll be filling. Now, don't worry, you won't be hard-locked into playing your role to the letter - someone who specializes in ranged combat can still fight in melee, and someone who specializes in crowd control can still fight. These archetypes are just there to denote what your intended focus and primary abilities are aimed at.
Through the game, you'll complete Deeds and Missions, which will earn your XP. Earn enough, and you'll "level up", which'll let you add new powers/skills/abilities to your hero and make them stronger, faster, cooler and more awesome. Which is good, because as the RP progresses, you'll run into more and more difficult challenges - can't keep fighting street thugs and catching muggers your entire career after all.
Players will get to select their initial Superpower, as well as their first skill(s) on their own. However, once you level up the first time, you get a choice - You can either opt to create and try to make your own new abilities or skills (which will then be judged and reviewed by the GM), or you can ask the GM to give you a selection of pre-made options to choose from. This is in case anyone wants to actually go with a more "RNG"-based route to how their character evolves. But agian, you have the choice of either way.
As mentioned above, you won't be in your Hero Spandex all the time either. While you're playing the role of a licensed and registered Paragon City Hero, you're still a person. You still got a life to live. If you're a teen, you're still obligated to go to school. If you're a young adult, you should hopefully either already have a job, or be looking for one. Unless you're a NEET who lives in their parents' basement and plays vidya games all day... Anyway, the point is, there'll be down-time where you don't punch sewer-trolls in the face or throw someone else's car at a lumbering mutated potato-monster. Sometimes, you're just you.
Oh, and in case it wasn't clear; The theme, feel and tone of this RP will be a more light-hearted, action-comedy hero adventure. If you're looking for grimdark or heavy drama and srz bizniz, this probably ain't what you're looking for. Granted, there'll be moments that are tense and serious and dramatic, but those reserved for big plot-points and narrative moments. Oh, and we're going for an anime/cartoon-y feel, so keep that in mind when looking for faceclaims. Also, suspension of disbelief is probably also a good idea to get into the mindspace of.
So, if you're still interested, great! Leave a reply below if you've got questions or comments. Or just wanna show enthusiasm. Or just wanna say 'hi', that's cool too.
