Retired

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

Already I'm looking at the mutant sheet I've got mostly done, reading this, and regretting my life choices.

@Bounce

Regretting life choices is usually standard for people who have to deal with me.

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

Let's irk @Byrd Man some more with the following historical revisionism:

Approximate timeline of important lore events

T I M E L I N E

• 1918 - American scientists discover the presence of the mutant gene within some individuals. This information is classified. Research into the gene begins, eventually becoming Project: Rebirth over the decades.

• 1941 - Dr. Berthold Sternberg reaches a breakthrough resulting in the Infinity Formula. This formula is administered to an elite Army Rangers unit, led by Sgt. Nick Fury and Cpl. Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan. Dubbed the Howling Commandos, these Army Rangers were the first known super soldiers.

• 1942 - German defector Dr. Abraham Erskine completes his own research into Project: Rebirth resulting in the Super-Soldier Serum, a more completed formula, before his subsequent murder. Steve Rogers becomes the first test subject for the serum and joins the war efforts as Captain America.

• 1945 - Captain America is declared KIA.

• 1947 - The Roswell incident is humanity's first known interaction with extraterrestrial life in modern history as a Kree drone crashlands and self-destructs in the desert. Almost none of the wreck is salvageable.

• 1949 - The Strategic Homeland Intelligence, Enforcement and Logistics Division is founded in the early years of the Cold War. Col. Nick Fury is given command of the spy agency.

• 1950s - Attempts to replicate the successes of Project: Rebirth by the CIA and American military lead to the forcible recruitment of 300 black soldiers as test subjects.

• 1962 - A whistleblower outed Project: Rebirth's increasingly immoral and illegal experimentations resulting in 10 months of Congressional inquiries and the termination of the program.

• 1963 - The knowledge of the mutant gene is released to the general public. This leads to hysteria and civil unrest that spans years.

• 1973 - Project MK-Ultra ends its illegal human testing. In its stead, John Sublime begins his illegal mutant experimentations as a new clandestine program; Weapon: Plus.

• 1980s - Renewed efforts for mutant civil rights lead to mass protests. The Brotherhood of Mutants forms, initially as a political activist group, and quickly transitions into a violent revolutionary group preaching about mutant power and superiority. Likewise, the Purifiers, a violent anti-mutant hate group begins committing acts of domestic terrorism against mutant civilians. The conflict between the two lasts the whole decade until both organizations' leaderships are arrested by the FBI and disbanded.

• 1989 - SHIELD is mothballed as President Reagan's final act in office.

• 2010 - Sixteen cities across the Earth are assaulted by an alien invasionary force. The Chitauri, led by their queen, cause widespread, unprecedented damage and terror in a war lasting 44 hours. This incursion is ended largely due to the efforts of mutants across the world, and a ragtag strike team of enhanced individuals attacking the queen's mothership over the United Nations building in New York City.
  
  • The acts of mutants in defense of the planet cause a massive decrease in anti-mutant sentiments and an increase in public approval ratings for pro-mutant politicians.
  • The individuals responsible for assaulting the alien mothership and defeating the Chitauri queen are recruited by the National Security Council to a new initiative meant to defend America against future attacks. These individuals become publicly known as Earth's Avengers.
  • SHIELD is resurrected to be a proactive bastion against possible threats, absorbing the Department of Homeland Security, with Dum Dum Dugan appointed director.
  • The Sentinel Program is created, led by Bolivar Trask, to create new weapons of mass destruction capable of fending off planetary invasions.
  • A superhuman arms race is heralded by private corporations and industrialists in a bid to create and sell the next super soldier. Norman Osborn declares his corporation will be the first to design a new, stable super serum.
  • Vigilantism by enhanced individuals becomes commonplace. This soon develops into the first known acts of superheroism.

• 2012 - The first helicarrier, the Triskellion, is constructed and becomes SHIELD's flagship and mobile headquarters.

2018 - Mutant terrorist Franklin Hall, AKA Gravitron, becomes the Avengers' first genuine enhanced threat.

• Anti-mutant sentiments rearise as conspiracy theories, courtesy of radicals like the Friends of Humanity, begin to spread across the internet.
• Graydon Creed, a known member of the Friends of Humanity, is elected to Congress.

• 2020 - Robert Kelly, vocal proponent of the Wideawake America Movement - a pro-human, anti-mutant movement - is elected President of the United States.

• 2022 - President Kelly announces he is backing Congressman Creed's proposed Mutant Control Act.
  
  • Bolivar Trask, a man credited with creating Earth's greatest defense in the form of the Sentinels, purchases a social media site and begins peddling conspiracies of a mutant replacement theory. This move is hailed by Congressman Creed and others of like mind.
  • A new Brotherhood of Mutants forms in the wake of resurging Neo-Purifier beliefs.

• January 2023 - Present day.

This should help tide you all until I can get an OOC up later this week, and give you a headstart on concepts that fit the world. These will be the lore events that are canon and unchangeable.

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

Interested.

@Bounce

Intrigued

@Sep

You guys are really pulling deep for these singular 'I' words. I expect the next potential player to respond with "indubitably."

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

Awesome. I'll get an OOC up towards the end of this week. I think if we can garner a few more people on top of you guys we'll be golden for a strong, healthy start.

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

Also, just to be clear, this isn't a year one game. While superheroes are relatively new to this world, it's been twelve years since the invasion, so you have a wide range to choose from. Your character could be one of the first vigilantes to pop up immediately following the Chitauri swarm and a veteran do-gooder by now. Or your character could be a total newbie about to get their face kicked in. Or anything between. I wanted to ensure there was plenty of space to allow for varied stories depending on your needs.

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

interested, if there's still room!

@udonoodles

There's absolutely still room. I'm hoping to have a pretty healthy roster here.

I do wonder if it writing a group (like for example, X-Men) is a no-go but someone from the said group is good to go.

@Mao Mao

Applying for a team is absolutely allowed. Someone has to represent the Great Lakes Avengers, after all.

Age of Marvels - A Marvel Comics Roleplay

It began a century ago in the wake of The Great War. While the world recovered from its devastating conflict, scientists in the United States of America made a wondrous discovery; a mutant gene present in some individuals that granted incredible, unique abilities. The American government suppressed this information while simultaneously conducting experiments on these individuals.

The fruits of their research gave birth to the Super Soldier Project and its early successes during the height of the Second World War. Decades of continued immoral experimentation run by the US military and CIA finally culminated in the early 1960s, leading to a series of Congressional inquiries, and, ultimately, the public revelation of mutant kind.

Although a massive cultural and political shift in the American landscape, humanity would face an even larger encounter with the unknown just five decades later. In 2010, sixteen cities across the globe came under siege as an invasionary force from the stars descended on Earth. The Chitauri swarm, commanded by their queen, swept across these cities with unprecedented destructive force.

The Earth's military might proved largely ineffective against the seemingly unending hordes, and complete conquest seemed in sight. Pocket conflicts began to rise, however, across the globe as mutant kind began to rise up and take a stand against the invaders. A handful of individuals wielding mighty powers followed suit in New York City, taking the fight directly to the mothership above the United Nations building. The resistance was short and brutal, but ultimately effective as the Chitauri queen was killed in battle, causing the complete disarray of the invading army.

Hundreds of thousands lost their lives in the brief forty-four hours of that first contact war. Tens of millions more were directly affected by the devastation.

From there, the world quickly changed. In America, the enhanced individuals responsible for the defeat of the alien queen were recruited by the National Security Council into a fledgling initiative to defend the United States against future assaults. SHIELD, a former spy agency mothballed in the 1980s, was resurrected for similar purposes. Calls for new weapons of mass destruction capable of fending off planetary incursions led to the formation of the Sentinel Program. And a renewed spark in super soldiers gave rise to a superhuman arms race undertaken by private corporations and industrialists.

In the immediate months following the invasion, reports of vigilantism skyrocketed. Social media became flooded with the notion of the superhero. In the twelve years since the Chitauri's onslaught, acts of powered and costumed individuals became commonplace.

The world had entered the...

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This will be a Marvel comics sandbox roleplay set in a world that, until just twelve years ago, was devoid of superheroics and villainy. Something I intended to do with this that I hope sets it apart from past comic games is the use of a mini-event system. Mini-events will be semi-linear plot elements provided in the IC for players to interact with and will be accompanied by a brief OOC listing of situations that would need to be resolved in order to complete the event.

For example, a mini-event involving a bank robbery is set in New York City. The checklist provided to resolve this would likely consist of:

• Stop the bank heist.
  
  
  • Apprehend the criminals.
  • Safeguard the civilians inside the bank.

In this checklist, stopping the bank heist is the primary goal, with ensuring the safety of the civilians involved as a secondary goal. How players choose to complete the checklist and resolve the event is entirely up to them, however. In some cases, players may choose not to be successful in all aspects in order to hit story beats.

My goal as GM is to observe how these events are resolved, whether successfully or not, and then incorporate in future events the narrative outcomes. The idea is that these mini-events directly contribute to the roleplay narrative forming a world that very much feels alive and everchanging. I plan for these events to be regular inclusions to encourage activity and interaction, as well as to provide story elements for players who may be struggling with jumping off points for their characters.

Players will be limited to one character and canon, non-villainous POVs, though original NPCs are always encouraged. Communication and collaboration will be highly encouraged. I want this to be a game where the story is formed between myself and all players into a living, breathing narrative.

This is a character-driven game with a heavy emphasis on collaboration. While this is a sandbox game in an open world, the semi-linear elements and mini-events will be largely focused in highly populated American cities and, should we have enough cosmic players, outer space. Telling your own stories in isolated arcs is always welcome, though keep in mind these events may not cater to you if you're in a small, midwestern town with no form of transportation. While you will be free to run your own plots, ultimately it will be critical to the success of the roleplay if we don't all go into our own corners of the world and focus solely on ourselves.

Like past comic games, reinvention is also encouraged. While characters should still stay true to their general spirit, you are free to take inspiration from any Marvel comic source, whether printed, animated, or live-action. You can redesign a classic canon character's sex, origins, and even place them in the role of an entirely different hero. If you want to play a female Daredevil, go ahead. If you want to put Happy Hogan in the Iron Man suit, power to you. So long as it is consistent with the lore of this roleplay, and is a well-put-together concept, everything will be equally considered.

So, who is seeking to carve out their own chapter in the Age of Marvels?

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

So, this is probably unnecessary, but I'm going to officially drop.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

Will this RP have events to help keep things feeling fresh and exciting?

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

Just giving an update now that I have the energy to do so: I came down with an intense fever several days ago and have been mostly bedridden since then. It seems like I'm in the recovery stage, so hopefully, in a day or two, I'll be able to sit down and type without feeling lightheaded. School has also ended for the year where I am, so I'm off work for the majority of the Summer and will have more availability to write.