World Building

-Phantom City - Medium sized City known for being an arts and Culture Mecca and TBD
- Primary Superteam - The Pantheon- Phantom City University
-History is largely the same as ours

Here’s what I’m thinking.

Medium sized city. Superheroes and villains of all calibers. Classic superhero world. There’s a group of powerful supers that protect the city.

Sounds good to me. I'd figure none of the main characters would be part of this main hero team, but they'll probably show up sooner or later. Kind of a Masks style set-up if you know that.
It'd probably be the best fit if the main focus is on either a school or university. Not necessarily that all the main cast attends, but having something like that as the focal point. Maybe uni, so they're all over 18?

For the record, I'm assuming we're going with a classic US setting?

Perfect! That all sounds good. I know Masks and that’s a vibe we can hit.

Yeah, US (I probably should have specified and not been so ethnocentric). I’m thinking that the city has mountains close to it and a beach close to it. Docks and all the other classic superhero locations.

Time period is maybe a few years into the future.

How similar is the world to our own? Have supers being around changed the course of history? Or is everything largely the same just with a bit more strangeness and danger to the unpowered person?

And what is the city and university known for? Is it particularly dangerous? Cutting edge science? Good sports team? Why don’t you pick something and I’ll pick something to flesh out the city a bit.

Location and date sounds good. I'd say superheroes have probably been around for a while (since the 1920s-ish?) but generally, the course of history has been mostly the same with some occasional twist where something is a bit different.

Let's say the city is known for its cultural side. Lots of exhibitions, concerts and cultural festivals going on. Same for the university. It has a large focus on arts and theater.

I love all of that.

How many supers are out there? Or alternatively, how many people have powers? The ones with powers may not be heroes or villains but they are out there?

Maybe 1/1000? In a city like New York, that would be 8000 people.

That sounds like a good ratio, though probably most people with powers just live their normal lives and don't become superheroes. Hm, might actually be the opportunity to revive an old character of mine who I played ages ago and who ran a support group of people with superpowers.

Oh… that’d be pretty neat. And a confident way for people to meet up or have a place to go or track someone down. Per the CW based Genre rules.

How does America feel about supers and powers in general? Are heroes (and to some extent villains) celebrities or at least celebrated? Are they a necessary evil?

I always like the idea of having to get licensed to be an "actual" superhero. Everyone else is a vigilante, criminal or villain. What do you think of that idea in general?

Rough draft of what I’m thinking for the people. Go ahead and post something about your guys, then we’ll make it make sense.

Rebecca Temple -
Cameron Melton - AKA The Green Ghost. Cameron grew up on the right side of the tracks of Phantom City. His Upper Middle Class family put him in all the right places, but still the lure of the seedy side of life called to him. Giving up his money and education, Cam spent his days personal training his friends moms in the gym and at night in a green body suit as the two fisted terror, the Green Ghost.

He has the ability to turn invisible and/or intangible and uses this to bust up crime. He focuses most of his cases on domestic violence.

He is brutally honest with Rebecca Temple. Zoe is a rebellious member of his group. Cole Fallkart is his mentor who Cam is emotionally invested in. Cam Volunteers with John Myers.

Doorman - If there's evil in your heart and something knocks on the door. Do Not Answer. The Doorman is a veteran hero who has been around for seemingly, decades. A myth, recently confirmed, he seems to have no powers, just a lot of wonderful gadgets. Many a spoiled crime and busted up ring seem to point back to the Doorman. Violenly.

The Pantheon has tried to enlist him, but he has declined every offer.

The Doorman is a new member of Cameron Melton's group. And the Polar Opposite of Mason Murray. Zoe Ellis acts like a sarcastic member of his family and is a friend. John Myers Protests the Doorman. And The Doorman and Elise share some of the same designs in thier gear.

John Myers - Beat Cop with a heart of gold. John Myers grew up in the country but always had his eyes set on the big lights of Phantom City. Arriving in town he joined the police force for work and sees it as a calling. In a lot of ways, he sees himself as a super hero, just without a mask.

John is against the violence and unregulated methods of The Doorman. He sees Mason Murray as a Strong Willed Child and provides for Zoe Ellis. John Volunteers with Cameron Melton and is always being watched by Cole Fallkart.

Mason Murray - His father was Veneno, as was his uncle, and his two brothers. Unlike them, however, Mason intends to live to see 30. He was raised by his grandmotehr and a collection of aunts who hoped for more but weren’t too surprised when he dropped out of school to join the gang. He made his name on the street the hard way, fighting, bleeding, and killing. His powers manifested in his midteens, just after his first arrest.

Getting ou of a short stint in jail, he manageds to wipe his record clean then attend Phantom City University under an assumed name.

He is a believer in Cole Falkart and the missing child of Elise Darrington. He's the polar opposite of The Doorman and even though John Myers sees him as a strong willed child, he was always a friendly.

Zoe Ellis - AKA TBD. Zoe is a new ADA for Phantom City. She grew up outside of the city and moved for her first job. Seeing how bad the city was and how great it could be, she decided to patrol the streets at night and use her powers to help clean it up.

Zoe sometimes advises Rebecca Temple and is a rebellious member of Cameron Melton's crew. Being from out of town and a vigilante herself, when she met the Doorman, she decided to become friends with him. John Myer helps provide for her and she helps look after Elise Darrington.

Cameron
I could see the brutally honest thing working with Rebecca. He might be thinking that she's wasting her gifts. He's out there protecting people while she has powers that she refuses to use.
I'm not sure in what way Cole would be his mentor. They seem to be in very different fields of interest/work. What were your thoughts there?

Doorman
He sounds pretty interesting!

John
Not sure why Cole would be watching him. Seems more fitting for one of the others. Maybe Elise would be watching him because she's worried he might make trouble for her.

Mason
Again, not quite sure how the Cole connection works here. What part of him does he believe in? And if the characters are generally about college-aged, how would he be Elise' child? He couldn't be more than a little kid, even if she had him pretty early.

Zoe
I like both the connection to Rebecca and to Elise here. Lots of potential there!

That’s great feedback. I see I didn’t say it before, but I used a relationship generator for these to kind of randomize and give seeds. So that’s why some of these don’t make sense. So that said, I’m happy to change any or all of these that don’t make sense, lol.

Cam/Cole- yeah. If I were to come up with something, I’d say maybe that Cole possible designed tech for Cam? His Green Suit or even the ghost abilities maybe? And it’ll maybe Cam thinks all of the tech and fixing that Cole does for his community is community altruism, when actually Cole is just scratching an itch that he has for inventing and problem solving? How smart or powerful did you see Cole being? Could that work?

Doorman - glad you like him. He’s a hero I’ve always play or add to games I’m playing in, lol. So of course he would cameo here.

John/Cole- potentially Cole met John on a call and was impressed by how good hearted and down to earth he seemed. So he’s developing armor or powers or something and see him as an inheritor?

Mason/Cole - Maybe Mason thinks Cole can do more than develop tech for whoever and could be a hero or hero supporter in his own right? I’m not sure actually… may just drop this one.

Mason/Elise - Good point. Secret siblings or we change it.

I think all my characters are pretty much not established. Maybe Rebecca is. She's probably a bit older than the others and has done this for a year or three but the others are probably pretty new to anything superhero-related. So I don't think Cole could have been the one to invent Green Ghost's gear, but maybe he through some circumstances got a chance to fix them. I do like the idea that Cam thinks Cole is in it for altruism while his real motives are just an itch for the work. That sounds like a good basis.

For John, maybe he saved Cole once from a mugging or something and now Cole wants to help him by developing gear for him, but John doesn't want that because he wants to stay just a by-the-book cop.

The Mason/Cole thing might work like this. Mason wants Cole to try to be a hero in his own right but Cole has no interest in that.

Mason/Elise as siblings could be fun. Mason disappeared as a child and somehow ended up being taken in by the whole Veneno clan. The inbetween is a mystery.

Ok. All of that works for me. I can make those changes.

I think we can get the ball rolling and start pretty soon then.