Not wanting to force anything, just throwing it out there in case it inspires any of those posts Wraith needs to get his fix.
Sorry, the story I'm pursuing with John is very very solo and set in England and isn't conducive to or available for interaction. This is partly by design so that if I don't get myself off the ground (which, while the planning is going well and I'm making a lot of headway in my plot and post-plan rewrites, and it's been fun and helping my juices get flowing again, is looking increasingly apparent), I also don't hamper anybody else who's gotten involved with my character. On the flipside, I also just wanted to be able to focus on a singular plot without being beholden to, or having to account for, anyone else.
<Snipped quote by Lord Wraith>
Completely legitimate question, but I doubt there's any one answer to it.
People may be struggling with inspiration for how to get started (I've been there), or have a concept that isn't translating to actual writing (been there too), running into unexpected life happens stuff (got the t-shirt), or maybe its something else entirely. I suspect the answer could be different in each case.
At the same time, the new thread smell may have worn off to some degree and its about trying to find connections and keep people engaged.
I think if anyone falls into the above categories, the GM team is here but throwing a line in the OOC can be a good start as well.
So then on this, it's as I outlined in my sheet; this is an attempt after complete burnout from my now-ex-job and plummeting to the worst mental health state I've ever been in in my life to figure out if I even can write anymore/again, and the application was made with the caveat that I might flatline out the gate. That might very well be happening and I apologise, but either way I'm carrying on with my plotting, and if I get as far as posts I'll share what I can.
Sorry, the story I'm pursuing with John is very very solo and set in England and isn't conducive to or available for interaction. This is partly by design so that if I don't get myself off the ground (which, while the planning is going well and I'm making a lot of headway in my plot and post-plan rewrites, and it's been fun and helping my juices get flowing again, is looking increasingly apparent), I also don't hamper anybody else who's gotten involved with my character. On the flipside, I also just wanted to be able to focus on a singular plot without being beholden to, or having to account for, anyone else.
That's cool and I understand. That was purely me putting a line out to see what might bite.
Here's my wish list so far with Arthur: Does J'onn have any TikToks on How To Telepath? Asking for a friend. @Cyrania
J'onn wouldn't do a TikTok on How to Telepath, as fun and funny as that would be. He's too paranoid for that and also is trying to deny that part of himself when it doesn't help with police work.
I do love the idea of J'onn helping Arthur with his telepathy though. So some ways I believe it could work.
Arthur ends up coming to New York City and runs into J'onn while dealing with a telepathic overload from all the minds of the city, which then gets felt by J'onn and so he goes to help him through a Martian form of grounding then starts training him. May or not take some time before Arthur learns/realizes J'onn is a Martian as J'onn can use his powers while in human form.
J'onn ends up in Maine/near where Arthur is next, then feels Arthur's telepathic mind being far too open to others' thoughts, and so seeks him out and helps ground him then teaches him some of the basics before he has to head back to New York though makes sure that Arthur knows that he could come find him anytime for help.
Arthur ends up being a powerful enough psychic that J'onn can feel his mind all the way from Maine/wherever Arthur is and so they start long-distance telepathic lessons that could continue for quite a while before they meet and then find themselves surprised when they meet in person for the first time.
Arthur goes onto some group on Reddit and asks for telepathic advice. J'onn sometimes scrolls Reddit for signs that people know what Martians are/have discovered him and sees Arthur's posts. Not wanting to have an obvious link though, he then Reddit DMs Arthur a Discord friend invite request, which then leads to a Steam friend request (that J'onn only slightly uses though he has a couple games on there), which is then where he shares his email address (not a gmail address but an inbox one so that his email stays private) where he then starts offering telepathic advice and his phone number for emergencies.
I've got about two posts left to write (I hope) before Spidey will be free for interactions, but I don't plan to leap into another solo thing for awhile after. My goal is to be more sociable within NYC, the occasional bigger development in Peter's life notwithstanding. So if anyone feels the need to be pestered by a high schooler in spandex in the near future, hit me up.
J'onn has too comfortable a life at the moment.
He definitely needs to be pestered by a high schooler in spandex.
A B I L I T I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ ABILITY -Communication With Arhtropods Despite being cut off from the Web of Life, Bailey still seems to remember how to talk to spiders and spider-related creatures. It's one of the only powers he has from "That other timeline" -Immunity to Spider-Senses Due to being cut off from the Web of Life, Bailey has no presence in it. Meaning that Spider-beings with the Spider-Sense can not feel his presence. -Fangs Another hold-over from his last life. Although he no longer secretes venom, he still has almost vampire-like canines that are incredibly sharp and strong. -SHAZAM!!! When Bailey calls the word of power, fabulous abilities are bestowed upon him as the champion of the gods. The word itself is so powerful, that every letter grants its own power. --S The Wisdom of Solomon. He has instant access to the vast wealth of scholarly knowledge as well as the ability to comprehend and speak in any language known to the gods. He is also able to corolate and extrapolate from data at superhuman levels. --H The Strength of Heracles. He has almost unlimited strength. Capable of lifting over 100 tons over his head with minimal effort. --A The Stamina of Atlas. Like the titan who holds up the heavens, his body processes fatigue toxins at a rate that has yet to be calculated. He can continue to exert maximum effort for days at a time. --Z The Power of Zeus. Capable of controlling electricity, hurling bolts of lightning as well as healing at a vastly accelerated rate. When he calls the word, his body is transformed by magic into that of a perfect adult, his whole body radiates with pure magical power that allows him to conduct and weave magical spells. His body is also incredibly resiliant to damage. Conventional weapons doing little to nothing to him and even super-powered individuals will have trouble damaging his body. --A The Courage of Achilles. His willpower is augmented by his new body, allowing him to analyze and conquer any fear that comes across him. He still feels fear, but he will never let it stop him from doing what's right. --M The Swiftness of Mercury. The only power comprable to his old spider-powers. It gives him reflexes capable of analyzing and dodging incoming dangers at a vastly accelerated rate. It also allows him to both run and fly at speeds unfathomable, without any damage to himself.
T O O L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ TOOL The only real tools that Bailey uses are from his former life, when he was written back into the fabric of the universe. They still work, even if he doesn't really use them much in his new duties. -Unstable Molocule Shoes Designed by Reed Richards, these sneakers have a thick padding on the bottom, but also allows him to stick to walk up walls. -Webshooter They have a strange octopus-like symbol on the underside, but it allows him to swing around. Of course, he really doesn't need to swing anywhere due to his newfound ability to fly. Also, when he transforms, all of his clothes and stuff are replaced with the Armour of the Gods, meaning he can only do it when depowered. Initially he had a problem with creating new fluid, but with the Wisdom of Solomon, he was able to figure it out.
N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S
S K I L L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ SKILL -Hand-To-Hand combat In the old timeline, he was trained by Ben Reilley after Peter Parker was killed. The only problem that he has at the moment is that his fighting style involves bending in ways that he is no longer capable of... That being said, his Shazam form has no such problems. But he needs to account for the fact that he's 100x stronger now. -Tech savy Although not a genius by any standards, he used to hang around with genius' and so a number of tech skills did rub off on him, he was almost proficient enough to design his own web-shooters, but not anymore... Thankfully, the Wisdom of Solomon augments this.
T A L E N T (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ TALENT -Cooking Bailey used to hang out in the kitchens of F.E.A.S.T. and proved that he was quite the dab hand at cooking, even at a young age. Mrs Parker used to say he made the best cupcakes.
T H E S T O R Y S O F A R... T H E S T O R Y S O F A R...
A seemingly normal boy who was born to seemingly normal parents and grew up in a seemingly normal life. Until his father died, leaving his mother unable to support both herself and her son. They moved into F.E.A.S.T. a homeless shelter in Queens, until they could get back on their feet. That time never came, unfortunately. One day, a supervillain attacked by the name of Madame Monstrosity. Taking several of the people at F.E.A.S.T. to be her latest guinea pigs for a mutation experiment. In this, he had his DNA crossed with that of a highly venomous Spider, his mother didn't survive the experiments.
He seemed doomed to be nothing but a footsoldier in the army of Madame Monstrosity until the Amazing Scarlet Spider broke down the door, defeated Madame Monstrosityband freed those who she experimented on from her Mind Control... With everyone free, everyone was free to go back to their homes and their families... Except little Bailey... With nobody to take the boy and with his Spider-Powers now prevalent, combined with President Lord cracking down hard on anything he deemed "Inhuman" Ben had no choice but to take Bailey under his wing and show him how to look after himself.
During one of their adventures, Bailey found himself protecting an old man who Waller and her goons seemed insistent on capturing. Bailey refused to back down, to bend or to stop his defense of this seemingly helpless old man. Beaten, bloodied and all but dead on his feet, Bailey wouldn't let them just do what they wanted. He had great power and with it came great responsibility.
Elsewhere in the Multiverse, little did either of them know that the Web of Life was under attack by forces unfathomable. During the attack, Bailey place in the Web was cut. Instantly, the entire universe ceased to know him. This timeline where Lord had taken over and become President to enslave and massacre mutantkind ceased, everything changed. The only one who remembered anything was the old man. Little did any of them know that the old man was a Wizard. An immortal being who watched time and space and sought those who could protect it from those who would damage it.
Remembering the boy, the Wizard sought him out in this new timeline. Unfortunately, not even his infinite sight could find the boy. Eventually he found out about the battle on the Web of Life. The boy had been removed entirely, not just re-written, but deleted. Nobody but he even remembered him. That boy was almost killed saving him from the forces of evil... Taking drastic measures, the Wizard travelled to see The Fates. The 3 sisters who controlled the Loom that wove all that is, was, could or possibly. Making a deal with them, they agreed to weeve the boy into the Loom.
Now Bailey has appeared in this strange world. He is once again alone... Except for the Wizard... The Wizard sees what he is, what he could be and has plans for the boy... But one last test is needed. When the boy hits rock bottom, how will he react?
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )
Bailey is an interesting character who has potential, but i also like the idea of exploring a character who is forced to adapt from one set of powers to a completely different type. Plus, the mystical side of Spider-Man is always an interesting place to explore. Combining that with the always interesting idea of the Old Gods of the world attempting to stay relevant in this new world of Superheroes and The New Gods. All of these elements blend together to create a narrative of a boy who has always found himself at the whims of others and never been given a choice of his own. And even those who are attempting to help him have ulterior motives.
A B I L I T I E S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ Canary Cry Dinah posesses a potent x-gene that allows her to produce a powerful sonic attack capable of damaging, disorienting, and stunning anyone she uses it on through her manipulation of her own vocal cords.
◼ Sonic Resistance / Immunity Dinah is immune to sonic frequencies similar to her Canary Cry and other such things. -
T O O L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ Dinah's Motorcycle It's a Honda.
◼ Lockpicking Kit Sometimes you just need to get into places that other people don't want you to. -
N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S N O T A B L E S K I L L S & T A L E N T S
S K I L L (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant Dinah is skilled in multiple martial arts and several forms of hand-to-hand combat, including American Boxing, Jiujitsu, Krav Maga, Wing Chun, Aikido, and Taekwondo. She is known to be extremely dangerous when fighting in close quarters.
◼ Investigation Over the years, Dinah has developed a skill for investigating crimes. It has led her to becoming a private detective.
◼ Stealth In her time as a teenager involved with Gotham Street Gangs, Dinah learned to sneak to avoid trouble (or cause it). This includes a developed talent to lockpick doors and safes.
◼ Driving Dinah's history with motorcycles goes back to Gotham street racing. Her preferred method of travel is by motorcycle. -
T A L E N T (S) ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ◼ Physical Conditioning Dinah was conditioned and trained by Ted Grant and Desmond Lamar as a teenager, grew up in the rough and tumble streets of The Narrows, one of Gotham’s roughest boroughs, and has continued to keep herself in shape following her brief departure from Gotham City. -
T H E S T O R Y S O F A R... T H E S T O R Y S O F A R...
Twenty years ago, Detective Larry Lance was killed in the line of duty. His murder, unsolved, would end up haunting his young daughter’s decisions for the rest of her life.
Orphaned and alone, Dinah was subject to the cruelty and negligence of Gotham’s broken foster system. She bounced from home to home with little guidance and an appetite for destruction. There was an anger that followed her and it wasn’t until she found a way to channel that anger when life started to make sense. Two aging fighters gave her hope for a new tomorrow at a derelict gym in The Narrows and eventually things started to click.
Dinah took these skills with her away from Gotham for a time and developed a sense for people. When she came back, people she knew from the streets back when she was a teenager needed help and she quickly provided it. Gotham had gotten worse. There was something prowling in the dark, the crime families were getting nervous and sloppy, and in the wake of that something’s crusade, people found themselves getting even more desperate.
While the Caped Crusader prowls the shadows, a Bird of Prey looks over the streets. Solving problems the only way she knows how: with her fists.
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ) P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S )
The goal here is to utilize smaller Gotham City characters to help tell street level stories independent or in collaboration with the Batman player. Given my personal struggles lately, I thought the best thing was to leave me in a spot that is malleable so I am able to participate in a game.
Dinah used to run with the street gangs (most likely the Street Demonz or some other insert) in The Narrows and has a lot of connections. These kinds of stories allow me to flesh out corners that maybe are too insignificant normally, and gives Dinah interesting opportunities to get in trouble with things outside of the Falcone/Maroni sides of things. Groups like the Golden Dragons, Jade Tigers, the Five Fingers are given room to develop. The Batman player, obviously, dictates the organized crime situation of Gotham so they might want to give me some notes that give me some guidance.
Characters I intend for Black Canary to play off include her mentor Ted Grant, Emily Briggs, Lady Shiva, and others.
There is also the case of her father's death, but I have no idea what I am doing with that plot hook at this time.
Just a little post to announce @Bounce as the new co-GM!
I've not been as active as I'd have liked to be on the OOC in part due to my timezone and also in part due to my work at the moment. I make no excuses though and I'm committed to putting in more work to keep things running and keep peoples interest up. I'm sure Bounce will provide a much needed hand in running things and I appreciate the experience they will bring.
<Snipped quote by Bounce> When did they let you make decisions? 👁️
I don't make the decisions, I just make the coffee how Half likes it, and have the file folders organized on the desk how they like them. With the TPS cover sheets, of course.
<Snipped quote by Roman> Oh. I was at the Funeral Home sorting through some stuff. Cool to see. Looking forward to writing again or trying to.
I'm sorry again about your loss. I'm looking forward to roleplaying with you. I hope you're able to hold onto that writing spark, but it's okay if you're unable during this time. We'll always be here waiting for you.
I'm down to collab with Arthur. Having Thor arm wrestle a kid would be pretty funny. He could also help him out with whatever's going on in Atlantis.
Let me ruminate and see if I can come up with a good angle. I may wind up just having Arthur appear in Metropolis.
The alternative would be a drinking contest with Jason, but that seems like the kind of plot that ends with them waking up on a glacier in Greenland, hungover and not remembering why they have Heimdall's eye, Hela's panties, or Mephisto's prize goat... as Valkyries and the armies of both Hel and Hell descend on them.
I've got about two posts left to write (I hope) before Spidey will be free for interactions, but I don't plan to leap into another solo thing for awhile after. My goal is to be more sociable within NYC, the occasional bigger development in Peter's life notwithstanding. So if anyone feels the need to be pestered by a high schooler in spandex in the near future, hit me up.
I do love the idea of J'onn helping Arthur with his telepathy though. So some ways I believe it could work.
Arthur ends up coming to New York City and runs into J'onn while dealing with a telepathic overload from all the minds of the city, which then gets felt by J'onn and so he goes to help him through a Martian form of grounding then starts training him. May or not take some time before Arthur learns/realizes J'onn is a Martian as J'onn can use his powers while in human form.
Perhaps we could have a New York mini-event, if the timing works out for all involved. With a bounty on Arthur's head and New York being a coastal location, there's plenty of ways it could work and then that would allow the two New Yorkers to connect as well.
I am floating the idea in my head of a secondary character explicitly for hip-fire, spaff-on-the-wall posts while I continue working on my Constantine re-write in the background. Something for easy no-pressure fun, where currently I may or may not ever bring Constantine to see the light of day.
The main gimmick/condition of this sheet would be I'd only be writing collab posts with other players, or cameos/features in other player's plots; there would be no solo posts of this character. This way, I get to write, the IC becomes a little more interactive, and I can crossover with anyone who fancies it, but I don't have to worry about quibbles like 'direction' and 'plot' and 'story' so much.
Naturally this would require activity in the IC and a functional and present player cast to be sustainable/feasible, so it's up in the air, and I also need to consider what kind of character I'd bring for a second sheet, but wanted to see if this was something other players/the GMs would be open to.
I am floating the idea in my head of a secondary character explicitly for hip-fire, spaff-on-the-wall posts while I continue working on my Constantine re-write in the background. Something for easy no-pressure fun, where currently I may or may not ever bring Constantine to see the light of day.
The main gimmick/condition of this sheet would be I'd only be writing collab posts with other players, or cameos/features in other player's plots; there would be no solo posts of this character. This way, I get to write, the IC becomes a little more interactive, and I can crossover with anyone who fancies it, but I don't have to worry about quibbles like 'direction' and 'plot' and 'story' so much.
Naturally this would require activity in the IC and a functional and present player cast to be sustainable/feasible, so it's up in the air, and I also need to consider what kind of character I'd bring for a second sheet, but wanted to see if this was something other players/the GMs would be open to.
I'd first point to this
I want to encourage player interaction as much as possible while also leaving enough breathing room for you to write your own overarching stories that can be independent from your adventures with other heroes, if this is what you want to do.
There's not, to my knowledge, a rule that says that you have to have a solo story. And sometimes its the solo story that gets in the way of interaction (speaking for myself, all my prior attempts at Aqualad failed because it would take me 10+ posts just to get out of Atlantis). I do see a possible downside being when your collab partner(s) may hit a period of inactivity (I've had so, so many collabs over the years that never saw the light of day for this), but I think that there is room for what you're describing.
