Team UK

[Supercape]

Thread for discussion about a UK/Europe -based super group. 

 

For now, this is for players who have been involved in discussions and to develop mythology/relationship map. Apologies to those who have not been involved!

[Supercape]

Character list. I will edit this according to discussions. 

 

[New PC] Arichamus

[synapse / Dawn Farrington] Thevshi

[Catalyst] Airoo

[Young Brittania] Tiff K

 

NPC LIst

 

[Headcase] Friend of Lord Farrington, experimented on children to induce psychic powers. "Created" Synapse. 

[Lucy Diamond] Scatty with awakened psychic powers from "Powers Project"

[Old Team 3]

[Old Team 4]

 

Professor Thomas Blackpool: Catalyst's professor. Used to work with Old Team. ? Missing. 

 

Lord Farrington: Synapses father, House of Lords Member of the Crownguard / Ministry of powers. Friend of Headcase. 

[Supercape]

Could we start with firming up which characters first, and tossing out ideas!

[Aoiroo]

Well first off, what four archetypes would we use in relation to the team for the NPCs?

[KnightDisciple]

Just for reference's sake, I feel compelled to note the existing

[Aoiroo]

Right do we have to make up the NPC that relates to our particular character?

[Aoiroo]

Heh, I'm kind of tempted for one of the heroes for the thing being a non-powered swashbuckler named either Jolly Roger, or Dread Pirate Roberts.

[Supercape]

We dont have to make any NPCs.

 

The idea however is to build up a relationship map. That can be entirely between PCs, but is likely to involve NPCs - I dont mean they need to be statted up, however. 

 

But there are four NPCs I would like to cover, the previous, vanished team. 

 

There will probably be others. The Butler of the previous team? A British SAS member who trained them? The minister for powers? Some of the villains / enemies of the team? And then of course anyone you would want to throw in, such as your parents, priest, doctor, best friend, lover, someone you owe a debt to, or have a hatred of. 

 

At the moment only the bare bones of the NPC. This is about establishing relationships, and the pattern of them. If, for instance, Roo, you wanted to throw in Catalyst's chemistry professor then define the relationship - he was a scatty genius who she learned a lot from, but he felt threatened by her and caused her havoc at university. Then someone else can riff off that professor, saying "Ah yes, but he also worked for the Ministry of Powers, and developed the formula that helped control my powers" etc. etc. 

[Tiffany Korta]

You know with YB the obvious choice would be Britannia, I ilke the idea of this mantle of responsabilty thrust upon her along with the mystery of what happened to the previous owners. Cause I understand that it might not be possible and all, but I gotta at least ask.

[Supercape]

Your PC, your mythology, your choice! Put her in. 

 

I don't know much about Britannia Cannon in the FC Sourcebooks, but I guess we can work it out!

[Thevshi]

Roo, let me see if I can provide a couple of examples of what SC is looking at regarding building the relationship map (yes Ari, I know, I am sounding like that character you mentioned in the PM. But then, I am old, and have been involved in pbp in one form or another for close to 12 years now)

I was in a game using the Smallville RPG system, but set in Gotham City (so basically Batman Smallville style). Part of the character creation process for that game system was creating a relationship map.

My character, as part of her corner of the map, had a conglomerate/foundation that had been set up by her father/grandfather, for which her mother was currently trustee of on her behalf. But that company also provided connection to other players. For the player playing Selina Kyle (Catwoman), the company had provided her a scholarship (so she could attend the fancy prep school the game was set at). For the player playing Bruce Wayne, the company was linked to the Wayne Foundation as an occasional business partner.

So, the company provided my character with links to two of the other players that could be used for roleplaying purposes. The connections also existed for the GM to potentially develop plot elements from later.

The entire purpose of the relationship map is to create a web of connections between the PCs and various NPCs/other elements to help with developing plot elements for stories. Think of it as a different way of making the background fluff for the characters, except it will be interconnected by design.

The mechanic the Smallville game used for this was having different points in the character creation process where players were required to add elements or make connections on the relationship map (not even between things directly involving them even!). Perhaps the best way to do this here is for each of us to start with our characters and perhaps one NPC/organization and make a note of the connection between them. (to look to the Gotham City game talked about above for another example: the very first entry on Bruce Wayne’s map was, naturally, Alfred, with the note “he raised me after my parents diedâ€).

From there, we can start making connections and adding new elements.

(I will try to get more up on my new character tonight!)

Edited May 15, 2013 by Thevshi

[Aoiroo]

Well I got an idea off the example, basically, a professor Catalyst had when she was an undergrad transfered to Cambridge. Basically she emails him occasionally, and because of lateness or missing important things cause hero stuff, Catalyst is fired from her job (fun fact: Catalyst works for the same company that paid the settlement for the accident that caused her chemical scarring, they don't like her), he offers her a job working as a research assistant than eventually become a research professor at the university he works at. She's not sure she'll accept the job, but she takes him up on the offer to look at the university, when she gets there, he goes missing, she finds out he worked with this group.

[Supercape]

Souds good, do you wish to edit him into the post above? a name?

[Aoiroo]

I don't know, what name do you think's appropriate, he's probably a UK native who taught at HIT for a few years before moving back.

[Ari]

Coming into this shamefully late, my tuppence:

 

Tiff/SC, Britannia(especially Young Britannia)'s history and true nature is very unclear. According to the Book of Magic Britannia and Lady Liberty draw their powers from a similar source, and they both have light powers, so they might have some kind of attachment to the Light, but that's all speculation. So there's not much you can't do, although Britannia seems to be more some kind of national guardian than anything else, in contrast to Young Britannia's role as a warrior of Justice for the downtrodden.

 

Thev: I'm really sorry! Anyway, that's quite a helpful way to explain it. Probably a good touchstone for all the characters would be the Ministry of Powers, their relation to it could do a lot for informing how they view and treat each other. What do you folks think? Catalyst wouldn't know or feel much about them, obviously, so it's not without flaws.

 

Roo, I vote you call him Thomas Blackpool. That sounds kinda English.

 

So far I only have vague ideas what to make for the new character, but I am leaning towards some kind of Osprey-themed Batman type of person. I'm fine with anything that might be better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thevshi]

Ari, no need to be sorry, I mean to put a smiley face with that part about your comment and forgot too.

 

And, that sounds like a pretty cool character Ari!

 

So…my new character.  I struggled a bit with what character I might want to use.

 

But, after some thought and talking with SC, I am going to go with a mentalist character.

 

Dawn Farrington (Synapse), is a somewhat rebellious young English woman from an aristocratic family.

 

(With that decided, I will now start putting more thought into stuff for the relationship map!)

Edited May 16, 2013 by Thevshi

[Ari]

Ah! Gotcha.

 

Thanks, obviously need to flesh them out, and since Synpase comes from a wealthy family it might be neat if they happen to be related or close in civilian life.

 

Or I could go with Osprey-Person being some other socially-conscious moneybags, or else somebody from the lower or middle class who decided to do something about the ravaging schools of crime.

 

And how rebellious are we talking about here?

[Tiffany Korta]

All there is about Britannia is from the Book of Magic, p 107, everything else about her and YB I made up out of whole cloth.

 

One of the main points, and the most useful is that one of the previous Britannia's is Annie Pennington is the Head of the Ministry of Powers. It also say's that she take's an active role in mentoring Britannia. If Britannia went missing I'm sure she would actively take an interest in finding what happened to the woman. It could also be that whilst she no longer Britannia she still has somekind of ink to them all.

 

As for YB and Britannia I can she them connected in two way's. With YB still being active in the UK, despite spending time in the US, the two would have met in someway. With them sharing a common origin through the Spirit of Britannia I could she them striking up a friendship. Then there's the idea that the Spirit of Justice is a part of Britannia and as such linked in someways, so anything happened to one the other would be aware of it. If something happened to Britannia's host I could see it making a beeline towards YB to help sort out what happened. Luckily I've kept the whole pastlife stuff quite vague, so she doesn't instantly know what happened.

 

I'd quite like for Agnus to end up become Britannia, but I know it might not be possible what with Britannia being an established NPC.

[Thevshi]

And how rebellious are we talking about here?

 

Well, that is part of what I need to think more about.  But probably rebellious enough to have been kicked out of pretty much every boarding school her parents ever put her in.

[Supercape]

Details up to you, TiffK. 

 

I'm not sure about YB becoming the new Brittania - we would probably have to run that past the refteam. Personally I have no objection to it, but it is effectively removing the current Brittania from the scene. The whole mythology, as you say is pretty vague. I suggest mulling it over a bit more. Perhaps as other stuff comes up with NPCs and relationships, things might click into place?

 

Brittania herself could be part of the relationship Map. 

 

I suspect you have a vision of how "Spirits of a country" work, given your excellent stuff on Gallia. 

 

It might be cleaner to have YB and Brittania separate, I honestly don't know. YB is a great character, but it will need a bit of thinking how she works here - and maybe the lightest touch of retcon. 

 

Ari>

 

Captain Osprey sounds fun. Are you looking at a non-powered individual (We already have Catalyst non powered but that shouldn't stop you). I would suggest giving him some minor powers, such as enhanced senses or borderline superhuman physical attributes, just to make him a little different. The relationship to wealth and to Synapse is worth considering. Also, is he tied up with the mysterious Professor Blackpool (? the Osprey serum ? ). THink if there are any important NPCs for him and how we can start building relationship map. 

 

All>

 

Any suggestions yet for the "Old Team" and how your characters might related to this missing foursome? Roo has suggested the "Crossguard" which is a cool name any others (or thoughts on what that might mean?)

[Aoiroo]

Well the professor would be a chemist, so him making a number of things medical related, treatments for suits, and lots of other things would be fine. Thomas Blackpool does sound fine.

[Ari]

Sadly, according to discussion on Chat Crossguard turns out to have somewhat troublesome issues as a team name. Such as implications of being a Christian superteam more than anything else. Might be good to choose another name for them. According to Thunder Vanguard's free to use. Could incorporate that into a more than two-word name.

 

Roo, I'm going to go with that, with Dr. Blackpool being responsible for Osprey/Fish Eagle getting a formula that gives him/her powers for a time, transforming them into a monstrous creature like Man-Bat.

 

 

[Tiffany Korta]

You know it might be a little cheesy but I quite like Team UK or even Team EU.

[Ari]

It's bound not to be taken. It's clear and bereft of any misunderstanding, only issue I can think of is it's a little generic and a little broad.

[Supercape]

And sounds like th GB Olympic team!

I would personally prefer something with a superhero zing, but I'm not going to object if that's what you guys want ill see if I can think if a name myself.

The royal vanguard sounds good