Logo made by me! Thanks, me.
As the video plays, the screen initially only shows darkness. A slow drumbeat plays, 'ba-thump... ba-thump...', untill a the click of an old phone cuts in. You hear a feminine voice, "911, what's your emergency?"
A moonlit city skyline slowly fades into view, the camera slowly panning over the busy streets. 'Ba-thump... ba-thump...' The beat continues to play, as a white lettering pops up. 'True Realities presents...'
A young boy's voice starts with a nervous crack, he's quiet. "H-help, please... They're right behind me, I need-"
Glass shatters somewhere in the background, a car alarm blares. "Oh no, he found me! P-please, you gotta do something!"
Strings join the drum beat as it transitions to an off 1-1-2 rhythm, more text scrawls past. 'Created and developed by Maboroshi Productions...'Followed several beats later by, 'A Masa Maboroshi game...'
"Kid, please, do you know your location? I'll-" The music picks up as another loud crash cuts the woman off, a scream following suit. "Kid? Hey, kid?!"
Her voice fades out as a dial tone takes its place, the camera shakes with the sound of an explosion and smoke begins to obscure the city lights. The camera starts to pan down to show buildings bouncing red and light lights from sirens driving past. A white streak of light tears a hole through the smoke, only on screen for a split second. Moments later, a distant caped figure in white flies into view and then down into the chaotic scene below.
The screen fades to black in tune with the music, before an image fills the screen.'Superheroics Unlimited. Releasing in 2053'
---------------------------------------
You might've been one of the thousands who stood in line of the 'True Reality' centers on release day, you might've received a gift subscription for some important anniversary or holiday, you might've picked one up months down the line during a special deal. Either way, you're one member of a large and ever-growing international playerbase for the single most ambitious virtual reality game to date. Several powerful AI Shards act as akin to gods, working in tandem to weave a player-driven story across an entire scaled version of the real world of the early 21st century.
Who you are in the real world, though, doesn't matter nearly as much as who you masqueraded as within the digital space. Be it a millennia old magician, a time-traveling cyborg, a mutant teen struggling in society, a benevolent alien from some far-flung corner of the universe, or even a millionaire genius piloting an advanced mech-suit. Join together with your fellow novice heroes as you struggle to maintain the balance of your secret identities and the allure of Superheroisim™.
So, submerge yourself in the form-fitting gel of the Immersion Pod, and work together with a Shard to handcraft your story in your assigned zone of Premium City...
Well, hello! I'll act as the 'Shard' in place of the one your actual actual[Two actuals!] characters would be interacting with(Depicted as a wizened old man named Janus, for your information). While I already run a game on the forums here, for some time I've had this story and setting in mind. If nothing else, I'd like to see what the viability of such a game like this is. The 'in-universe' setting is a very much "Generic Super-Hero" type allowing for any mixture of weird zany origin stories you can think of. Felt that might be a fun experience. It's a 'MMVR (Massively-Multiplayer, Virtual Reality) game, so there will obviously be the 'Virtual Reality' aspect to the game. For the earliest bits of gameplay though it won't be a prominent feature.
For the moment, this is an interest thread. Some people might not be keen on the virtual reality aspect, so I just wanna test the waters for now. As a baseline, I've it in mind to be a PL 10 game, and likely up to six players.
House Rules:
- *I'm looking for up to six players.
- For the momment, I'll be keeping recruitment up for a week.
- PL 10 [150] is our baseline.
- Pl 9[165] and PL11[135] are viable alternatives I'm willing to play with.
- For skill ranks, let's keep it as standard. 1 point, two ranks.
- In addition to normal minion NPCs, there will be occasional 'Epic Variant' minion NPCs that require two degrees of failure to down, but otherwise act as normal.
- I don't need a full statblock of your 'player' characters, but I'd like you to at least list them as a complication; Player Identity: In the real world, you are a normal human by the name of [????].
Chapters wrote:
Other Known Character
- Full House Crew: A gang of mostly old-school gangsters and thieves, previously led by Dana's grandfather Jack. They seem to know Operative is tracking them, yet have thus far been elusive. Generated by the Shards as backstory-tied NPCs.
- Lady Sabrina Nightshade: A superhero known to the world as the Master Mage, teacher of Martin Spellman. Known to be a preexistent NPC created with the original game.
- Baron Malamar: Supervillain rival of the Warlock, a mage who uses his powers for evil. Known Player, Wayne Chau is a friend of Samar and was one of the original beta-testers.
- Psyche(Felicity Freeman): Psionic supervillain and Flora Freeman's twin sister, known to possess identical abilities. Generated by the Shards as a backstory-tied NPC.
- Stream Team Dream Team: A group of real-world associates of Natalie, these friends are working in the background to make sure that her streaming career runs smoothly.
- Horizon(Vincent): Parker's brother who treads the line between hero and villain, and is obssessed with uncovering the mystery of their parent's disappearance. Known Player and Kendall's ex-fiancé, there is little lost love between these two parties.
- Absynthe: Viking themed dwarf supervillain with alcohol fueled pyrokinetic abilities. Confirmed as a Player, Absynthe's player reportedly used illegal modifications to his immersion pod and caused a server-wide shutdown. Official statement from Superheroics Unlimited is the player has been banned, and faces criminal charges in his country of origin.
- The Officer: A helpful member of the PCPD who's taken special interest in the heroes. Suspected as being an NPC.
- Danny: A firefighter who has expressed interest in Octogirl, and has been in regular contact since. Suspected of being a Player.
- Smalls: Size-changing supervillain with a smarmy attitude and a penchant for tricks. Confirmed as a Player.
- The Clone Crew: A twin-brother pair of supervillains with the ability to duplicate, and exchange places with said duplicates. Confirmed as being players through esoteric means.
- Grace Duper: Member of SIN, the Supervillain Imprisonment Network.