Fandom [Open Discussion] The Next Expansion

[Sir Les Paul]

One Mean Ghost Randomfella Neon Valkyrie The Regal Rper BainOfBridges ShadowBroker ChazGhost Loony_Bin

With the relative success of the Titans Initiative, dissolution of the Hero Points, and more time to run the RP, I've decided I may be able to create a new expansion to the RP. Consider it a new plot thread, really. I have some ideas, but my ideas may not necessarily be the only ones viable. And, I may allow players to create new characters to play in other places, so no one is locked down.

1) Of all things, I could do another roster boost to the Titans Initiative. I'm not down for this for a handful of reasons, although we did lose a player and 2/3 members of one team are MIA. This would make for a stronger core plot in the Titans, but add little else and add the least diversity. This option would basically expand an already-existing roster, but the characters would go through the same cycles as the originals. Notably, I intend to do this someday anyway, so this is in the works.

2) A Marvel's Runaways (ie the children of villains) themed team in San Francisco or Gotham. I really liked the show, plain and simple. In this option, though, I'm actually looking for players to help make their parents, but have me play as them for the most part. Here is why: the parents of the characters need to effectively be as fleshed out as the main characters, but I want them to be independent. Again, I really liked the show. I think it's one of the best things to come from Marvel that isn't on a silver screen (Fuck yeah, Black Panther woot woot) and I'd love to see this done right. This option would probably have the most freedom and flexibility at the cost of the highest effort, I won't lie.

3) Another San Fran or Gotham idea: a group of anti-heroes/villains following an aged Momma Duela. Momma Duela is the daughter of Harvey Dent, but masqueraded around as the Joker's Daughter and wore his face (literally) for a while. In this future, she's going to be a very mother-hen type character to younger girls out on the streets, probably the children of criminals or villains. When I think of Momma Duela, I'm thinking of a character much like the later versions of Harley Quinn wherein she watched after her grandchildren, had a maternal side, etc, however, she's actually based most closely off of Mama Mabel from Luke Cage, and she's quite close to a criminal. This story actually plays out a lot differently depending on where you guys want it. Put it in San Fran, and it's going to be more akin to her connections having a network there where these girls go to as somewhat of a haven and Duela actually tries to get them into a good life. San Fran version might also have Titans tie-ins. Put them in Gotham, and I intend to make it grittier and tie it into the stratification of Gotham where Duela is training these girls to be criminals. A lot of options here. The catcher here is that this is a female-oriented team, but I would definitely allow some LGBTQ elements (I guess, I don't care personally, but I know that's some people's thing) and it would be open to already-existing players making a second character.

Anyway, those are some of my ideas and they're not fully fleshed out. Ask questions. Invite people if you want. If you know some people interested in a new game or that these ideas might appeal to, have them send me a request to get in and we'll work from there. So, post away!

 

[sitanomoto]

So for the Gotham's Runaways thing, would the parents also be old cannon criminals or descendants of cannon criminals, or entirely new ones altogether? I find this option and the Momma Duela one to be the best options in my opinion.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

So for the Gotham's Runaways thing, would the parents also be old cannon criminals or descendants of cannon criminals, or entirely new ones altogether?

Good question. I also like the sound of "Gotham's Runaways"; but, that's besides the point.

While this is a DC world, the Runaways comic was Marvel, so I'm going to have to treat this like a Marvel idea to give you the Runaways "vibe" so to speak. Runaways is actually pretty new; it came out in the early 2000's, I believe. I didn't hear much of it, tbh, until the show. Which I love. So, this puts the characters (and their parents) in a gray area. In the Marvel continuity, the characters and their parents are all... well, pretty damn new to the scene. They were all made (characters and their parents) basically for the comic series exclusively. In short, it didn't borrow much.

If I were to take that idea and put it into the RP, I would do the same thing. All new stuff. In my typical fashion, I might weave old material in and update it, but it would not be directly based or built upon pre-existing material. This makes it a slight divergent from the rest of the RP, which could be good or bad. That's because the "Runaways" concept was in many ways just that: a fresh start with a new plot.

If you're entirely unfamiliar with the Runaways series, I suggest you watch it. It's pretty damn good and it'll give you a great idea of what I would be looking for.

 

[ChazGhost]

I like the runaway idea, granted I never seen the show but I've a little about it. I up to make a character and parents for the "Gotham's runaways".
P.s. This would be fun to make Gotham more lively.

 

[Loony_Bin]

To be perfectly honest, I find both ideas appealing (Both the Runaways one and Momma Duela Mabel one) but I think whatever idea should be executed on is really dependent on where you plan on putting these characters. If it's in San Francisco I think the Momma Duela works best as it allows the Titans and everyone in that thread to deal with moral grays and shit like that, and it also allows another group besides the Titans to exist there, however in Gotham with a group like the Gotham Runaways, all the sudden you have a group of kids who throw a monkey wrench into the whole hierarchy in that thread (Also, not having them be criminals in Gotham leaves less of a likely hood that if our groups were to meet a conflict would begin).

If it were up to me I'd go with the Runaways in Gotham, mainly because there aren't any 'real' heroes in Gotham currently, and they'd be the closest we could get to that. On top of that, there's only three people actively posting in Gotham right now, and while it's fun to RP there, it does sometimes feel sucky that there are so many people in the Titan's Initiative with so many cool and dynamic personalities to bounce off of that people in Gotham will likely never meet, so having a few new faces in Gotham may help that problem and balance the scales a bit.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Running through some ideas for "Gotham Runaways" is actually a bit tricky. The entire concept of "The Runaways" is basically to 'start fresh' with whatever you create. It is incredibly hard to do that in Gotham because, well... it's Gotham. Gotham is one of if not the most well-established DC City, and it has a rich history and plethora already-existing characters to delve on.

Given that three of you have leaned towards Gotham Runaways and I do like the sound of it, I was stitching some things together, and it is really, really tough. I know I said that this could be an (Or Gotham) plotline, I'm just finding it tough. However, I also like to innovate and listen to you guys, so this is what I'm going to do. Present you with some of the things that I find as "problems" with implementing the idea in Gotham:

1. The conflict of OC vs Canon. This one is straight-forward. While we could 'force' everything we create to be brand-new or only lightly-touched by the City of Gotham, how do we honestly preserve the feeling of it being a wholly new plot/group in such a historical place? The only answer I personally can think of is to base it off of an element of Gotham exclusive to Beta Protocol, which there are plenty of, but I'm not sure if that would really still do it.

2. How to avoid not immediately interacting with the Shadows of Gotham? I call this a problem because if you honestly think about it, throwing Marcel, Drake and Freddy into this Runaways plotline in any direct way is pretty much going to taint the whole idea of it being this brand-new, independent plot. Indirectly, this isn't a problem, but direct interaction is kind'a bad for this plotline.

3. If their parents are villains, how does that affect the atmosphere of Gotham? This one is difficult to describe without you guys having watched the Marvel's Runaways show, but I'll give you the low-down. Basically, the "villainous parents" in that show are not outright villains. One actual villain with a lot of power/influence basically coerced them into helping him, and ultimately crossed a lot of moral/legal boundaries doing so. He did so through different means, but regardless, they're not actually evil... but they're far from good. People whose moral ambiguity was taken harsh advantage of. That said, this is probably the biggest task for me to figure out because the ideas behind this almost all link back to what's going on with the Shadows of Gotham plotline.​

I believe that the Momma Duela idea would be more fitting for Gotham just because of what presently is going on there...

This is the the line I draw with the Runaways plot in Gotham: I don't want it to feel like a continuation of what's going on in Gotham. I don't want it to be Gen 2. We have that. I don't want it to be "this part of the plot"; I could do that with other ideas. It needs to be independent--that's kind'a the identity of this plot. When you watch Runaways, you'll see it yourselves if you do. It's a story that legit feels like it's own whole story that exists in the MCU, but for all intents and purposes doesn't really connect with anything else.

In a way, the Runaways idea also presents that thought: the goal for that plotline is for it to be self-contained. While it may spark activity wherever it goes, it's not meant to be like a modular "team" or "plot" to be jumped in and out of. At least, not for a while.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

An idea I have been mulling over:

If there is a lot of interest in the Runaways idea, how about plopping them in Los Angeles and having their parents somehow working against the Morningstar regime?

 

[ChazGhost]

Out of curiosity what is the Morning star Regime?
P.S. I'm cool with our runaways running in Los Angeles.
Sir Les Paul

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Lucifer Morningstar used his divine influence to effectively take over Los Angeles and purge it of certain crimes. For instance, Hollywood sex scandals, mass drug rings, certain nude casting things... I could go on. Now, mind you, there's still plenty of drugs, sex, and crime in Los Angeles, but Lucifer made it a point not to ruin lives, harm children, or abuse those looking to make a new life. In doing so, he also made Los Angeles a safe haven for all those seeking shelter, whether they were abuse victims, vigilantes, or even criminals seeking reformation. His influence was deep rooted in politics, the economy, social welfare, and the behind the scenes rings that kept everything going.

Anatoli effectively inherited that regime and took on the responsibility of Lucifer.

 

[Loony_Bin]

I know I'm late to respond, but I figured I would go through these points anyways because I've finally checked RPN

1. The conflict of OC vs Canon. This one is straight-forward. While we could 'force' everything we create to be brand-new or only lightly-touched by the City of Gotham, how do we honestly preserve the feeling of it being a wholly new plot/group in such a historical place? The only answer I personally can think of is to base it off of an element of Gotham exclusive to Beta Protocol, which there are plenty of, but I'm not sure if that would really still do it.

I feel like you really touched on one of two really simple answers that solves this problem, the one you mentioned (Basing the plot off of an aspect of Gotham exclusive to the Beta Protocol) is one solution, the other is just as simple: Take an aspect of Gotham not touched on much by the comics or TV shows and explore that. By doing this it would basically be its own thing, as while you're exploring something from the canon DC universes, you'd be able to fill in so many gaps that eventually it'd be its own thing.

2. How to avoid not immediately interacting with the Shadows of Gotham? I call this a problem because if you honestly think about it, throwing Marcel, Drake and Freddy into this Runaways plotline in any direct way is pretty much going to taint the whole idea of it being this brand-new, independent plot. Indirectly, this isn't a problem, but direct interaction is kind'a bad for this plotline.

You mentioned very early on that much like in Batman Beyond, Gotham in this thread has multiple 'levels' with entirely new cities being basically stacked atop one another. I think if you want to prevent run ins with the Shadows of Gotham, put them on an upper level while the Shadows work on the lower levels, that way there's still crossover, but we also see a side of the city we haven't seen much of. If this concept doesn't work, then you could always do this: considering Gotham is somewhat based of New York City, lean into that and divide the city into boroughs, which would effectively do the same thing as the levels idea, but with a bit less of an impact in my opinion.

3. If their parents are villains, how does that affect the atmosphere of Gotham? This one is difficult to describe without you guys having watched the Marvel's Runaways show, but I'll give you the low-down. Basically, the "villainous parents" in that show are not outright villains. One actual villain with a lot of power/influence basically coerced them into helping him, and ultimately crossed a lot of moral/legal boundaries doing so. He did so through different means, but regardless, they're not actually evil... but they're far from good. People whose moral ambiguity was taken harsh advantage of. That said, this is probably the biggest task for me to figure out because the ideas behind this almost all link back to what's going on with the Shadows of Gotham plotline.

Admittedly this is the hardest to answer (Mainly because I don't really understand the question being asked) however based off what I understand the question to be, I'll give this a shot.

If their parents are villains it shouldn't affect Gotham much at all as with the way you've described this concept, we're not talking the Joker or Two-Face's kids, we're talking two bit criminals to more in the shadows behind the scenes esque villains. If you're worried about how it'd affect the atmosphere in Gotham as in how it messes with the politics of the city or something akin to that, then I'd say again, it doesn't affect Gotham in this thread much as those aren't really aspects of the city we've explored. I hope this answer helped but I honestly doubt it because I think I'm missing something about the question.

An idea I have been mulling over:

If there is a lot of interest in the Runaways idea, how about plopping them in Los Angeles and having their parents somehow working against the Morningstar regime?

This also works for the Runaways idea, and I do really like it (In fact if I stepped outside my own personal bias, I think I'd like it more than Gotham) however again, I do feel setting it in Los Angeles is a missed opportunity to explore more of Gotham personally.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

I've been running through ideas based off suggestions and some new creative solutions. To put the Runaways in Gotham, the absolute best way to do it would be to utilize the uppermost, stratified layer of Gotham and have a set of teens/kids basically getting into the more downtrodden parts of Gotham. It would really explore the social atmosphere of Gotham, it wouldn't need major villains, and it would tick all the boxes.

The issue I'm coming down to is just how much more fitting and plainly more fun I think Los Angeles would be. Let's take the tone of the RP thus far. We've got the school group learning to be heroes, we've got another group off on an undercover mission on an island nation, we've got one guy literally going in a VRMMO, then we've got the Shadows of Gotham doing the vigilante/anti-hero thing. The RP already has a lot of the dark, gritty vibe, and it hasn't shook any of it with the exception of Anatoli.

I think putting the Runaways in Los Angeles would do just that. Give variety to the RP. More so, each Runaways group would basically have a core function/idea to it, and that's what I'm judging this on. Fleshing out Gotham as it is and giving the city this soulful plotline would be amazing and could still be a later thing, but I think having a group of people in Los Angeles trying to overthrow Anatoli Morningstar and his firm grip on the city put in place by his father is more compelling. Basically, see the struggle of Anatoli to keep his city through the eyes of teens or flesh out Gotham and bright light to its dark soul.

Both sound good. I think LA sounds better. This is just my opinion, though, and others can chime in. The added benefit, though, is that there are far fewer chances of plot conflicts and continuity issues in LA.