Going Green

[alderwitch]

So, its gone commented on in chat that there are green names popping in among the red and purple and black that we already had. A post is forthcoming from the Ref team with the full details of exactly what the demarcations mean but, in short, the green named folk are here to help facilitate story and guidebook entries, that sort of thing. We're not Refs and don't have so much the Ref abilities or responsibilities but we are here to help answer questions. It was discussed in chat that it might be helpful to start a conversation thread for people to chime in as to what they'd like to see us doing.

 

How can we help you guys tell the stories you want to tell?

[Raveled]

Something that I would like to see are more NPCs from the books brought in and even updated to take into account the twenty-plus years that had passed since GRR first published Freedom City. I feel like there's a lot of great bad guys like the Sky Lord or Goanna who don't get used enough, while others like the Power Corps or White Knight are getting trotted out every month or two to get their faces pushed in again.

[April]

I feel it's worth pointing out that my original concept for the Guidebook was to basically re-write/update the Freedom City book for the current site.  What you're suggesting Rav is in keeping with that idea.

[Ari]

So what has changed, anyway? I mean, that hasn't been covered by the Event entries?

[Ari]

I'm serious, this is something we need to settle, and it's small and wide-ranging enough that it can provide a good start for our other efforts. 

 

Just for a start: the Freedom League now has Seven and no longer has Lady Liberty, from what I understand. Who else has joined or left, have the existing members changed? Do they have more or less than as set down in the book?

[KnightDisciple]

-Well, we know that Callie Summers as Raven is down to part-time appearances, and is using much more heavily armored (and possibly powered?) suits. 

-Daedalus is pretty active at the moment, it seems like. 

-Bowman's probably just now hitting his mid-30s, if that? In the 2nd Ed FC book, which is just 10 years old, he's brand-spanking-new to the Freedom League, so unless we did some maimin' or murderin' that I missed, he should still be going strong. 

-Captain Thunder seems to be the "elder statesman" to the public, if not the straight-up "leader". 

-Dr. Metropolis is kind of a fixture of the team (that's a building pun, see). 

-Johnny Rocket's young enough he shouldn't be having issues yet. 

-As you noted, Ari, Lady Liberty is, if not retired, taking a leave of absence.

-Pretty sure Pseudo is still running around?

-No clue on Siren....

-We've got Star Knights all over the place!

 

I'd wager that Bolt and Megastar are both Auxiliary FL members or the like. Again, as Ari's noted, Seven's on the League roster. 

I'm less confident on speaking toward the others from the book's Next-Gen roster. 

 

Hm. I'm almost wondering if we want to have, like, multiple League teams at this rate? If even a third of the Next-Gen, Hero High, etc. kids ended up joining the League that's probably more than double the original roster size, and there's not enough old fogies to just retire them all. 

[Thevshi]

At best I think Bowman is only just hitting 30 KD (he graduated Claremont in 2004, so if he was 18 then that makes him just 30 this year).  I believe Johnny Rocket is older than him, although the book is not quite as clear when he joined the League, but it was before Bowman.  He might only be a couple years older. 

I think that Captain Thunder is probably a good candidate for considering retiring, as he is easily pushing 50, if not late 50s.

[alderwitch]

I have personally thought for a long time that it makes more sense for the Freedom League book characters to be the Aux. group and let the FL Aux take center stage. But that is probably a much larger conversation :D. 

 

Eldritch is still around but rarely shows up for things and has shunted a lot of the Master Magi spheres onto various PCs as well. 

[Ari]

That does indeed sound like something worth its own thread, Alderwitch. I will start that, if you don't mind. 

 

 

 

[Thevshi]

Well, there has been discussion around that from time to time for more than a year.  There just has not been much in the way of any push by anyone to really move it forward beyond the retirements we have had take place.  A part of it could well be that other ideas have been taking our focus.

[KnightDisciple]

I'm not totally against retiring Thunder, or even having him pull a "staged" retirement (sort of like Raven II is doing). 

 

At which point, the question becomes who we'd consider the leader/elder statesman for this team? With Lady Liberty, Raven II, and Captain Thunder all in stages of retirement, and Centurion long-dead, that leaves our Not!Justice League with no Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, or Captain Marvel (SHAZAM IS THE WIZARD!) on the roster. 

 

I guess there's room to argue for Psuedo or Daedalus, but the latter seems to often be portrayed as so world-weary, and more invested in SPACE! stuff, and the former...I don't actually have a good feel for him?

 

I think this is sort of important, because while these aren't PCs, having points of reference like "this guy is typically the one to speak for the group" is important.

 

I would say Johnny Rocket's a strong contender; he hits the sweet spot of age, power, personability, etc. But if he's more of a Wally West/Bart Allen personality (I don't have a good handle on his portrayal in our universe), I could see that as a point of hesitancy. 

 

But I'd say, unless we introduce an NPC hero who's both as old or older than Rocket, those 3 (Pseudo, Daedalus, Johnny Rocket) feel like the strongest contenders.

 

Of course, with Thunder retiring too, and the consistency of any particular Star Knight's presence on the League being shaky (due to OMG SPACE!), it leaves the League a bit thin when it comes to Powerhouse/Paragon types. I think maybe we could look at bringing in a few younger heroes to give the FL some "muscle", while letting the less-overtly-powerful but more-experienced heroes take leadership roles. 

[Thevshi]

Thinking about who might step up as leader if we phase out Thunder is an important consideration KD.

Something we have not really discussed with Pseudo is the fact that with the large number of independent Grue following the Incursion, he might dedicate some time to them.

While making Johnny Rocket step up as a possible leader could be an interesting character development for him, I think there is another potential candidate.  While Bowman might only be 30, he has 12 years on the team, and also was leader of Next-Gen while at Claremont, so it could make some sense he steps into the roll.

[Raveled]

Well the obvious contender for more power is to bring Bolt onto the team, but how do you stop him being Captain Thunder II?

[Ari]

Because Captain Thunder is my father, Raveled. But seriously, it's an independence thing, Ray wants to stand out on his own. He's self-conscious enough from being elevated by his family's standing for so long.

[KnightDisciple]

I actually like Bowman being the "senior statesmen" (assuming the whole NPC Roster doesn't get AA-ed); if nothing else, he's part of a heroic legacy that stretches back longer than almost any other, except for Midnight (though with a more consistent presence on the "hero scene"). 

 

Bolt could shy away from being "Captain Thunder" for a while, and then, well, embrace it. *Shrugs*

 

You know, I'm wondering if it would help us to have a thread where we make heads and tails of all the PC and NPC Super-Teams in the US (since we've got 3 cities now) 

[Vahnyu]

How about Bowman and Bolt both sharing senior statesmanship, with Bowman serving also as a mentor figure for Bolt? The idea being that Bolt would be the one people look up to to be inspired, while Bowman the one people listen to for tactical intel. Eventually, Bowman plans on helping Bolt mature and come to terms with his legacy and position in the League (and the superhero world at large), in order for Bolt to more comfortably step into the light and take charge (hehe), while Bowman would slink back into the shadows, frome where he'd more comfortly operate?

[KnightDisciple]

12 hours ago, Vahnyu said:

How about Bowman and Bolt both sharing senior statesmanship, with Bowman serving also as a mentor figure for Bolt? The idea being that Bolt would be the one people look up to to be inspired, while Bowman the one people listen to for tactical intel. Eventually, Bowman plans on helping Bolt mature and come to terms with his legacy and position in the League (and the superhero world at large), in order for Bolt to more comfortably step into the light and take charge (hehe), while Bowman would slink back into the shadows, frome where he'd more comfortly operate?

 

Bowman doesn't really seem like a specifically shadowy-slinker type, though. I mean, he's not wearing neo-bright primary colors, but he doesn't seem like he'd hate the spotlight. 

[Thevshi]

Vahn, the discussion around this has moved in something of a different direction in another thread.  For a start we are trying to figure out what roll we want for the Freedom League in our setting and whether it should be more PC focused.