[Revamp] The Are No Heroes [Modern, Supernatural, Survival]

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

There Are No Heroes

There never have been and never will be among us.

---- There Are No Heroes is set in the modern United States with a distinctive alteration outside of reality - the limited presence of that which defies nature, the supernatural. Though not always subtle, the supernatural is an element that is as mystifying and poorly understood as it is in regular lore, yet here it has influence and presence. Despite this, it is not acknowledged or readily known, even by those involved directly in it as few and far between as they are; most people simply regard it as myth, folklore, urban legend and fantasy. Your common man will go about his life paying no attention or regard to this element of reality, as he's unlikely to ever see it - experience it. At the end of the day he will still be concerned about his bills, his next promotion, and if his wife is cheating on him with his neighbor; never once stopping to care about anything outside of the norm. But not everyone has such minor concerns. For a few unfortunate persons their lives can never be the same as anyone else's no matter how hard it is they try. They work in the same conditions as anyone else, striving to get by, but they're scarred from some element they can't explain but simply know. They won't - they can't - attribute these incidents as madness, and they won't simply let go as they know there is more to life than spending ten hours of their life commuting and working within the confines of four small walls at a desk, day in and day out. They are the caliber who spend sleepless nights trying to put these thoughts away, either be it in a bottle of alcohol, a bottle of pills, or repeated medical appointments... but nothing they do will ever convince them otherwise. Yet some of these people are more than just people now; they are something else altogether - or always had been and never realized it. They are cursed (or gifted) with powers that aren't meant to be - things that cannot exist or defy existence - thus, nothing can ever be the same for them. Most, if one can call such limited a population of unusual persons, fall prey to what their true nature is or has become, as people are vulnerable, but most of all, corruptible. When given power over their fellow man most use it to further their own lives than to better that of others. Imagine, for a moment the ability to influence one's opinion with mere thought - to sway even the staunchest of opponents and weaken their resolve. Or muse on the nature of eliminating the greatest of rivals on a dark night when they travel by themselves, leaving with slicked claws or fangs and no valid evidence. In There Are No Heroes most characters are redeemed terrors of un-nature; individuals who fell prey to some aspect of their power, only to return as better aspects of themselves, or at least shadows there of. However, this comes at a terrible cost... one doesn't simply forget, or excuse, their evil deeds done - they need repay, with the rest of their existence, wrong with right. This does not mean they need take the high road, and in fact, one should not always; the high road, while morally superior, is often prone to failure. ----

Plot

Each character opens with their backstory played out, defining who they were, what they are, what they did and what they do now. In this they are essentially sharing their backstory and explaining who their character is in game before moving on to the current plot. While other characters do not immediately know this information (unless of course they too were present), it's presence is for the other players to better comprehend the character in their current time frame - an explanation of sorts to understand the angle a character and writer is approaching from before the actual plot itself initiates. Each character's current place opens with them trying to live out their life and undoubtedly facing difficulty in adapting to the norm as something outside of it. It is here that as the game master once all characters have posted that the plot itself will be revealed; what I will say is that each character will be brought together by fate - a mechanic explained later. The plot itself will contend with opposing that which is evil, be it man or things of un-nature - that the antiheroes (the characters) need do their best to not only go undetected and try to live out their lives subtly, but also to prevent others from doing great harm to those who cannot defend themselves. The threats will vary wildly from scenario to scenario, but most are only human.

• All characters provide an opening backstory to give a feeling for what made them who they are now.
• All characters try to live their lives with some semblance of normalcy and conformity.
• All characters are formerly normal people with abnormal abilities, or normal people who have encountered the abnormal formerly.
• All characters are antiheroes who are attempting to redeem themselves and undo errors or mistakes of their past.
• Most characters should be flawed or scarred psychologically from their experiences in the past, and develop credible coping mechanisms.

----

Characters

Players have two base options for characters, both of which are very, very broad strokes; human and the inhuman. Humans have the advantage of, while not strong, fast, resilient, or superbly intellectual, they can live out their life and operate with normalcy - things which the unnatural cannot. Inhumans, however, are much more varied, as the touch of the supernatural renders a human (in the eyes of other humans) inhuman; by this virtue, in game mechanics, a human being with actual psychic talent is placed into this category, just as a zoanthrope is, despite both being largely able to live out normal human lives whereas a vampire simply could not. Most importantly to character creation is "fate", or in the more abstract sense "Fate Points". Each character before creation has three points of fate, or effectively the ability to do or be the impossible within a few limits; this abstract concept represents a twist of fate, or mere chance essentially. In order to play an unnatural human one must expend a single use of fate at character creation, representing that they survived, endured, or encountered an event that was entirely fate and or chance - something that should not have happened; a violation of the normal laws of the universe. A valid use of a "Fate Point" is to make a regular human character into a psychic with a few basic abilities. For example, while a psychic can't explicitly read minds, they could sense emotion and glean a bit of it from thought in a form of telepathy, or could be able to levitate small objects through a version of telekinesis, or even gain knowledge of a person by handling an object through psychometry. They could not however, outright cause people to spontaneously combust and ignite with pyrokinesis or possess someone with a form of astral projection. Thus one must expend a point to create an unnatural character, and must expend another point for additional expanded abilities, such as having multiple abilities. Some unnatural creatures inherently have multiple abilities, but come with drawbacks; a human with lycanthropy is playable with but a single expenditure of fate because though the actual alternate form is exceptionally powerful, it is difficult to control, is vulnerable to silver, is compelled to manifest on full moons or under extreme duress, and otherwise can be readily exploited by others. If the individual wanted to have absolute control their lycanthropy, with both true mastery and understanding of it, they'd need expend two fate and only receive that benefit; they could not, as an example, expend another point of fate and make silver cease to harm them, or fail to transform under a full moon, as these are universal qualities of which no exception for their type as a lycanthrope exists. Fate, otherwise, is used to preform acts of extreme heroism or otherwise defy the possible. One could, with fate, survive a mortal wound - a human survive a point blank shot to the head, dealt by their captor. Though they would be comatose for weeks at a minimum, they would survive and remain a character. One could not, with fate, as a human stop an oncoming bus through the strength of an outstretched hand alone; the vehicle would instead careen, haphazardly, out of the way when it should have killed them - perhaps for no immediately obvious reason. Treat fate uses like this as a "second chance" and specify usage of them through something like double parenthesis at the start of the post, saying "I'm spending a twist of fate." or something similar. Moving on from the concept of "fate", characters should be readily attempting to manage normalcy versus their abnormalcy (or dealings with it); they still have lives to attend to, needs to fill, and things expected of them. The further they drift away from their previous normal world, the more distinct the corruption becomes as they are left, largely by themselves, to themselves. Characters should not revel in their monstrous power (if they have it) - it's frightening - but they can easily understand and comprehend it to the point that they can utilize it as a tool, and more importantly, a means to survive.

• Minimum age of characters is 18.
• Characters may be human (with experience toward the inhuman), or inhuman (with former humanity).
• Characters all begin play with 3 Fate Points.
• Characters must spend 1 Fate Point to become supernatural, and an additional 1 Fate Point to refine their abilities or remove a weakness that is not universal.
• Characters should not revel in their abilities or experience with the inhuman; it has damaged, or even destroyed their human life.
• Characters may not combine different inhuman qualities.

Humanity A character need not be an unnatural creature bearing some terrible burden or curse, and may instead be a normal human being with the sole stipulation that they are aware of the supernatural, for better and worse. Humans have the advantage of having no relative drawbacks in any scenario, but at the same time having no particular strengths. For example, a human can go undetected by a psychic who can innately sense things of un-nature, but that same human hasn't nearly the athletic ability of even the most mundane of vampires. Most humans can survive day to day with minimal concern about the supernatural affecting their lives, and those who are aware of it often specifically fight against it, using their research and versatility to survive. However, most glaringly dangerous, is the fact that some creatures - namely zoanthropes and vampires - can bestow their curse upon humans. This threat is very real to human characters in There Are No Heroes, and thus they should carefully consider expending fate points to - just by chance - avoid a heavy burden to bear. Inhumanity One of the most notable elements of There Are No Heroes is that characters have the option to begin, or later become, inhuman. Because of this quality, a sense of balance needs be established. If you wish to play a non-listed human character turned inhuman, please message me with your idea. Creatures which are not valid options, such as zombies, demons, ghosts, etc, are barred as they are inherently not human or cannot even attempt to continue their humanity.

Doppelgangers

• A doppelganger can take on the appearance of any person they've seen. They may also take on the voice of any person they've heard. This mimicry is not perfect; for example, a doppelganger would need to see the entire person's body, as well as hear them speak at least every letter of the alphabet at least once in order for an exact duplication.
• A doppelganger may combine various features of persons to create a new disguise altogether that does not resemble any one person at all. This applies to their vocal mimicry as well.
• A doppelganger may take on the form of any gender, regardless of their own.
• A doppelganger's shapeshifting is fluid and takes only a few seconds, and is a true match to the original, as best they can replicate.
• A doppelganger is the result of serious misfortune and death of an important relative (or friend) caused by the individual who then becomes the doppelganger. This unluck curses the person responsible and drives them to cause bad luck and other misfortune upon others.

Psychics

• A psychic can select one school of psionics to specialize in, although some are related or exceedingly specific. Some forms of psychic powers cover multiple areas. Some examples include telekinesis, pyrokinesis, faith healing, remote viewing, among many others.
• A psychic cannot be immediately detected through normal means; only some other, highly specialized psychics are aware of other psychic beings near by. Thus psychics oft blend seamlessly in with regular humans if they wish to.
• A psychic needs to concentrate on their abilities in order to have them function. Extreme distractions often foil psychic manifestations, causing them to end or fail.
• A psychic is of either two disciplines; the wild and uncontrolled use of abilities based upon their emotional state, or the calm, focused, meditative application. A psychic cannot be of both means.
• A psychic's powers do not normally show incriminating manifestation. Events simply occur inexplicably to viewers who are not aware that the psychic is actively trying to cause an event to transpire, but might be alerted by the (in)action of the psychic or other similarly obvious factors.
• A psychic typically discovers their ability in a time of extreme stress or pressure, and is often not immediately aware that they are the reason for the event.
• A psychic for all intents and purposes is otherwise a human being, but no longer at special vulnerability to specific supernatural effects.

Revenants

• A revenant is a human cursed to walk in undeath until they complete some great task they failed at in life before they died.
• A revenant resembles a human being with unusually pale skin and a cold, lifeless presence to their flesh upon touch.
• A revenant is immune to regular injury and removed limbs or bodily components do not severely inhibit them. Any portion of their physical body that is removed can be reattached at no penalty.
• A revenant cannot heal injuries and destroyed portions of their body are truly destroyed.
• A revenant may not enter sanctified or holy ground and is rebuked by religious texts.
• A revenant is mostly nocturnal and in day light, becomes sluggish and fatigued.
• A revenant can only be truly destroyed before their task is complete if one removes and destroys their heart and or incinerates their entire body.
• A revenant who completes their formerly failed task in life dies instantaneously.

Shapeshifters

• A shapeshifter either has the ability to assume one animal form, or the ability to assume multiple animal forms. Those with single animal forms are often highly skilled in its use or at least have a general, innate understanding of it.
• A shapeshifter who has multiple animal forms masters none, but survives instead on versatility; each additional form weakens their average level of competency with them all.
• A shapeshifter is highly vulnerable to silver; it causes extreme pain on mere contact exposure and more mortal wounds when part of an injury.
• A shapeshifter shifts shapes in a few seconds and can fluidly travel between them. This transformation causes no real pain or debilitation but might cause them discomfort.
• A shapeshifter heals much more rapidly than a normal human. Shapeshifting as an act heals most minor wounds and injuries - barring those inflicted explicitly by silver.

Vampires

• A vampire is a human cursed by another vampire who has completely drained their blood through a sustained bite. The victim rises again a few days later after their death as a new vampire.
• A vampire is undead and cannot heal naturally. They must consume the blood of a living human, at least once per week, to survive and or heal. Those who do not drink at least once per week die.
• A vampire is immortal and will live until physically destroyed (or if starved). Sunlight ignites them, fire or blessed water burns them, and total submersion in pure running water instantly slays them.
• A vampire is turned by garlic or a holy symbol and they may not cross running water on their own accord; something must carry them across or allow them passage, such as a bridge or vessel.
• A vampire has no reflection.
• A vampire may disperse into a mist or transform themselves into a large bat for a brief period each night.
• A vampire's gaze can charm humans of the opposite gender, and cow others of the same gender if they concentrate.
• A vampire must rest during the light hours (from dawn until dusk) or lose their abilities for that night.
• A vampire, on average, is at least as fast and as strong as professional athletes of their respective categories.

Zoanthropes

• A zoanthrope is a human cursed to turn under a full moon into a single type of predatory land mammal until the dawn of the next day. Stress and injury also induce this change, which can take a minute to several to complete this transformation.
• A zoanthrope can survive great injury through raw resilience and regenerate over time. Silver ignores the resiliency, inflicting regular wounds instead of minimized ones. Direct injury to the brain or heart by powerful means may also prove fatal.
• A zoanthrope is immune to most forms of poison and disease and cannot be raised as undead. Wolfsbane is the sole toxin that affects them normally, whereas other toxic or biological hazards rarely do.
• A zoanthrope can pass on their curse with a bite, or a blood to blood contact injury that is fresh. One can also be born as a natural zoanthrope if one (or both) parents are the same sort of beast.
• A zoanthrope's cursed, alternate form is a large, powerful anthropomorphized form of their animal lineage. Most are anywhere from six and a half to seven feet tall, but larger animals have larger hybrid forms.
• A zoanthrope is often uncontrolled and behaves similarly to the animal they become under stress or a full moon. Many prey upon humans, though they do not need to do so to survive. Most do not gain any semblance of control in their alternate form until they receive some form of proof of their cursed nature.
• A zoanthrope's transformation is frequently painful and brutal, often paralyzing or slowing a zoanthrope undergoing their change until the process completes.
• A zoanthrope is, at least, as strong and as capable as ten average men, with some zoanthropes being stronger or more agile because of their animal lineage. The inverse is equally true.

Character Sheet Below is the generalized character sheet, which while expansive and long, should cover almost any area that a character sheet need to.

Character Sheet

• Name (and or Alias):(Utilize a realistic and or appropriate name. Aliases can be as a simple as one can imagine, but remember they are not actual names.)
• Gender:(As gender.)
• Age:(As age, minimum 18, maximum 60.)
• Lineage:(For humans, treat as race. For inhumans treat as previous race, but also their inhumanity; ex, "Native American - Psychic".)
• Fate:(For humans, begin with value of 3. For non-humans, begin with 2 or less. Provide description of expenditures.)
• Relationship Status:(For characters who are in a relationship, note this here. For characters not with one, remove this line. Provide description.)
• Occupational Status:(For characters who have an occupation, note this here. For characters without one, note as "Unemployed". Provide description.)
• Previous Occupations:(For characters who had previous occupations, note this here. For characters without one, remove this line.)
• Physical Description:(Provide, at minimum, a two paragraph description of a character's physical appearance. Note: Avoid unusualities and pictures.)
• Alternate Physical Description:(Provide, at minimum, a two paragraph description of a character's alternate physical appearance. For characters who do not change shape, remove this line.)
• Psychological Profile:(Provide, at minimum, a two paragraph description of the character's psychological state.)
• Alternate Psychological Profile:(Provide, at minimum a two paragraph description of the character's alternate psychological state. For characters with only a single psyche, remove this line.)
• Vices:(For characters who have (bad) habits, note this here. Provide description. For characters without any, remove this line.)
• Background:(Provide, at minimum, a two paragraph description a character's upbringing.)
• Recent History:(Provide, at minimum, a two paragraph recent history of events the character has gone through. This will be expanded upon in your first post.)
• Additional Information:(For characters with additional notes. For characters without any, remove this line.)

----

General Information

Yes, this is a revamp of a previous topic under the same name with a few, more minor alterations - equally so, I would actually like to see this topic go somewhere with activity, as I am confident the concept (while not a first) holds plenty of interesting merit. If you're curious as to what changed - if at all - know that all I really did was clean up some of the text for inhumans and give better, clearer detail. Otherwise, for all intents and purposes, this is just an update to work with the newer guild edition.

• I am accepting only two other players. First come, first served. If you wish to hold a slot, post here; you will have three days only to keep your slot reserved, otherwise it goes to the next highest in queue.
• I will be playing as both a game master and a character, with pre-scripted events randomized. I don't know the outcome of every scenario - my dice on my desk do, and I'm at their mercy as well.
• I can and will award bonus fate for excellent roleplaying and cleverness. Don't abuse your fate points, as they're there for the "Everything has gone wrong." moments when the the story twists hard and unforgivingly.
• Play your characters like people. Real people who aren't accustomed to these sort of things and try to live with what they've done, what they are, and what they do. They're not truly heroes for a reason.
• Please don't try to go for the "special snowflake" route. Though every character should be unique, credible, and interesting, don't pile on the cliches - do something different and new.
• This setting is for mature participants only, as it will include described violence and adult language, but not extreme amounts of either. Adult themes are strictly forbidden and will only fade to black prior to any questionable actions transpiring.

----

Player Characters

DEADLINE: Interested players have until 0001 03MAR15 to reserve a slot, receive acknowledgment on reservation, create a character, submit a character, and receive approval.

• Reserved Slot - The Harbinger of Ferocity
• Reserved Slot - Orichalk
• Reserved Slot - Zashes
• Reserved Slot - Howler

[orichalk]

I'm definitely interested and I could get a character sheet in within 24 hours. However, I live in Germany and sleep between now and 8 hours from now or so. Other than that I can respond quickly, but tell me if that's a major issue.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

I'm definitely interested and I could get a character sheet in within 24 hours. However, I live in Germany and sleep between now and 8 hours from now or so. Other than that I can respond quickly, but tell me if that's a major issue.

@orichalk

I will reserve your spot and I look forward to your submission. The only real deadlines that exist are the finalization dates and the "post a reasonable amount when you can" ideal.

[Zashes]

Could I reserve a spot? Given various real-life goings-on I'm not quite sure how active I could be, but I'd love to participate.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

Could I reserve a spot? Given various real-life goings-on I'm not quite sure how active I could be, but I'd love to participate.

@Zashes

Consider your reservation confirmed. This topic I don't intend to be one of those where it is mandated you post every day - just once every few days, so that should fit your schedule better.

[orichalk]

This is gonna take a bit longer. I'm refining the backstory. Sorry.

[Howler]

I'll see if I can get something up for this, why not.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

I'll see if I can get something up for this, why not.

@Howler

I can make an exception to the limit of two other players, but your inclusion will be the absolute maximum - four total is plenty. Consider yourself welcome to join.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

You can find the forum for character submission here as of now. You needn't post a complete profile - you can upload a work in progress and simply notify myself when you've completed it.