metamemes | TEST DRIVE MEME: NOVEMBER EDITION

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!test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME: NOVEMBER EDITION

TEST DRIVE MEME

A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces.

This Confluence is predicted. Guild officials are ready to capture the new Starfallen and explain the situation to them. All of this has become quite mundane for them, but you -

You find yourself suddenly falling from the sky. Careening towards the pavement, only to be caught at the last minute by thin ribbons made of stardust. They would have caught you far faster, as they've been getting quite skilled at snapping tumbling bodies from mid-air, but...

ONE MIND, ONE WILL. CENTRAL CITY, MICHIGAN.

Staticky octogon-shaped portals appear in the sky you just fell from. At that same moment, every screen in Central City flares to life. A PINK-SKINNED ALIEN with glittering, crystalline compound eyes stares calmly into the camera.

"My greetings to The Society of Samaritans. My dear old teammates. And their hero friends like Atom...? Atomight? Atomight. If they're even still alive... When you've lived as long as I have..."

He trails off, staring into the distance. It takes a moment for him to resume speaking. "I hope they don't still have you all convinced of the delusion of free will. What does free will matter in the face of immortality? Of freedom from strife? I would reshape you all into something so beautiful." He gives the camera a beatific smile. "I don't know why you would eschew that - so I'm just going to take the choice out of your hands. It's for your own good, really. The Forerunner is here to save you from yourselves."

At that, monsters start to pour through the portals. Instantly there's mass panic. Screams fill the streets.

The Forerunner is viewed as a "god" by the monsters coming through. ABOMINIDS twisted long-limbed biological monstrosities slavishly devoted to him, and his AUTOMATA, incredibly intricate machines lacking free will. Alliance members appear familiar with his tactics, and familiar with the foe. They can tell you that The Forerunner himself is unable to cross between dimensions due to the tragedy that made him. In an act of heroic self-sacrifice which warped his mind, he was trapped between dimensions and his body was warped beyond recognition. This isn't the first time he's attacked Earth with his monstrosities, hoping to weaken the planet's defenses.

The monsters are not the only threat. The Forerunner has developed the ability to hack free will. Automata and Abominids are putting mind control helmets on unpowered citizens en masse, the projected stream of sound they provide capable of binding the victims to his will.

Swarms of converted non-meta civilians are quickly captured and converted. These people are not themselves, but they must be fought, freed, or avoided. You, heroes and villains, are the only force that can avert disaster. The mind-controlled civillians are targeting infrastructure like power transformers and fire departments.

Even more worrying, the Converts are swarming the local hospitals, raiding metahuman wards to take control of metas too sick and weak to fight back. These metas are the intended building blocks for the invasion force, who will be mind controlled and forced to fight despite illness or injuries. At ground zero for the earliest attacks, medical staff need help transporting sick patients and newborn babies to hospital wings that can be more effectively barricaded. Some will wind up trapped, stuck holding doors shut together while fists pound outside.

Whether heroes or villains, those unfortunate enough to be captured will find themselves given a modified mind control device at the base of the neck. If you are so unlucky, you will act completely normal at first to put the people around you off guard. And when the opportunity arises, you will try to convert others by implanting those same devices. The constant stream of mental hacking will leave your personality mostly intact, save for the devotion to the Forerunner.

"Surrender and sublimate. Flesh into flesh. All are one in the Forerunner." They chant in the streets.

Removing the devices instantly liberates the captive. However, there are so many of them. It's up to the Starfallen to hold the line, and stop others from being taken.

DIADEM HOTEL

Whether you've survived the chaos, or arrived after the trouble's over, you're not going home anytime soon. Hopefully, the LUXURY HOTEL they've put you up in will ease that sting.

The DIADEM HOTEL is usually reserved for the obscenely wealthy. Its rooms are enormous, the beds quite literally enchanted to offer the perfect night's sleep, and the food would usually cost your life savings just to sample. But given the circumstances, the Guilds feel its the least they can do to aid your transition into this world. EVERYTHING is complimentary, and everyone gets an ALLIANCE CREDIT CARD to spend on entertainment, clothing, and whatever other necessities they might need. The cards have an obscenely high limit and there doesn't seem to be an expectation for you to pay it back... though if they catch you abusing it, their accountant will be coming for your head.

There's a shopping center immediately across the street. It has an impressive array of outlets that cater to your every need. Food, clothing... and swords? If you can think of it, it's for sale. Although anything clearly supernatural or metahuman seems to be at a minimum and offered under the table. You can grab clothing made to withstand any superpower and a surprisingly mediocre Taco Bell order while you're at it. There's a Super Cinema in the shopping complex across the street that's showing the 11th sequel of a popular action racing franchise, BLASTS FROM THE CURIOUS: LAST OF THE NEFARIOUS, in which Hubcaps Nefarious tries to undo the Carmageddon caused by evil tech entrepreneur Jebs Robs. He uses the Large Hadron Collider to launch a Bugati into the past to save the world and the most important thing of all: family.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world, even after the clean up from the Forerunners's attack. Wander too far from the shopping district and you'll find yourselves thick into territory controlled by the local non-meta crime syndicate... but maybe that's where you want to be. Maybe you're here to see just what this world is dealing with. If you're going to be stuck here you might as well make yourself useful, right?

Or perhaps you're NOT the heroic type. Maybe this is simply scoping out the competition.

Regardless, it won't take long for TROUBLE to find you. Test out your new powers, do a little thieving, stop a few muggings - this is your time to use as you see fit.

THE PUMPKIN KING. SUNSET FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

The recently open door to the underworld is now closed but that doesn't mean Sunset Falls is free from supernatural events. That said, what's currently happening is at least a normal kind of abnormal, a well-established, necessary yearly ritual.

Every year, a being known as Magna Cucurbita, also called the Pumpkin King or Old Man Autumn, must be appeased so that Autumn in the northern hemisphere can start progressing to Winter and the other seasons. In the past, this entailed flattering him with various depictions in TV specials and movies, but with some of these beloved holiday specials and movies moving to streaming services and being viewed by less people - and increasing Christmas creep - this seasonal elemental has taken affront at the lack of attention at the end of the harvest season.

Fortunately, the magical community in Sunset Falls knows how he can still be appeased. Every year they perform a ritual in some pumpkin fields, corn fields, and orchards just outside Sunset Falls. While the ritual is led by the Alliance's Silent Mystic, the magical community sees it as something that transcends the loyalties of the guilds and all are welcome to help out, regardless of affiliation. It takes a large number of people performing it to make it work, enough that those that might be hesitant will practically be begged because of the importance of making sure Autumn doesn't last all year long.

After being teleported in by the mages, the ritual is a mostly harmless one. Much like the recent masquerade ball, all participants must pick out a harvest mask but instead of magically hiding their identity the mask does the opposite: it enhances it, transforming and taking the form of something deeply personal or that best represents the individual. Sometimes the carvings and paint can show more than one thing, causing a wearer to have an entire collage of personal symbols, objects, characters, or even whole scenes depicted on the mask.

Two participants, often chosen at random, then have their hands bound together with twine woven from straw. They have to walk through the pumpkin patch and both eat an apple from the orchard, then walk into the cornfields. Once all the sound gives way to the white noise of rustling corn stalks, they have to kneel and tell each other their greatest desire. This can be any number of things, both possible and impossible, like the recovery of something long-lost (or gone forever), a short-term goal they're desperate to accomplish, or a lifelong dream they keep aspiring towards.

This admission must be the truth or at least close to the spirit of it, and the stronger the desire, the sooner the ritual will be finished. This is a harvest of emotion that appeases the spirit.

Until both have said their truth, Magna Cucurbita can be seen in glimpses, circling in the corn around them, wearing his grand suit embroidered with pumpkins, accompanied by two skeletal Halloween spirits. When he is finally appeased the spirit gracefully departs, leaving behind the scent of pumpkins, bonfires, and ripe apples. Participants can then return to the others.

When enough participants have appeased the Pumpkin King, a very light first snow will fall, heralding Winter, and the ritual will be declared over. The new season is always welcomed in with the mages treating everyone to magically delicious hot cocoa and hot cider, various apple treats (baked, candied, and caramel), and various pumpkin based foods like pie and pumpkin spice bread.

Provided they don't indulge in a snowball fight first, everyone is then taken home.

EXCELSIOR

A scientist in Excelsior has come forward, claiming that he can solve the current metahuman crisis with science. Robots, he says, without intelligence. One that is programmed to follow human law by the letter. They do not need metahuman intervention. Their problems are caused by scientific minds, and so the solution must come from them.

The robots in question are mass-producted from cheap material. Their programming is… slapdash, at best. And there is no government sign-off on these robots, the eager scientist simply flings open the door to his lab and unleashes them upon the city.

Rejoice, he cries, I, Sprocket Biggs have saved this city!

He has not.

The robots are doing what they are instructed to. They are intervening when they catch sight of someone endangering others, or breaking the law. Unfortunately Sprocket did not think to check what laws they were upholding, nor did he think to prune the more ridiculous ones that have entered legislation over the centuries. And so these poor, ridiculous creatures descend upon the unsuspecting populace with only their binary understanding of what is and isn’t a law.

Some of the laws the robots are adhering to are…

• It is illegal to attach a vending machine to a utility pole without prior consent from the utility company. 
• No person may walk about in public if he or she has the common cold. 
• Destroying a beer cask or bottle of another is illegal. 
• It is illegal to entice girls away from the Maple Lane School for girls. 
• X-rays may not be used to fit shoes. 

(more laws here)

• All lollipops are banned. 
• A law to reduce crime states: "It is mandatory for a motorist with criminal intentions to stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town. 
• It is illegal to paint polka dots on the American flag. 
• People may not buy a mattress on Sunday. 
• All motor vehicles must be preceded by a man carrying a red flag (daytime) or a red lantern (nighttime) fifty feet in front of said vehicle. 
• It is illegal to pretend that one's parents are rich. 
• One may not spit on a bus. 
• When two trains come to a crossing, neither shall go until the other has passed. 
• You cannot buy meat of any kind on Sunday. 
• No person may walk about in public if he or she has the common cold. RCW 70.54.050 Exposing contagious disease -- Penalty.  Every person who shall wilfully expose himself to another, or any animal affected with any contagious or infectious disease, in any public place or thoroughfare, except upon his or its necessary removal in a manner not dangerous to the public health; and every person so affected who shall expose any other person thereto without his knowledge, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 
• A law to reduce crime states: "It is mandatory for a motorist with criminal intentions to stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town. This law was set up to curb an ever increasing crime rate in the area. Due to its sheer stupidity, however, it is needless to say that the law has affected nothing. 
• You may not shuck peanuts on the street. 
• It is illegal to display a hypnotized or allegedly hypnotized person in a store window. 
• Dancing and drinking may not occur at the same establishment. 
• You may not carry a concealed weapon that is over six feet in length. 
• One may not spit on a bus. 
• Those who sit on men's laps on buses or trains without placing a pillow between them face an automatic six-month jail term. 
• No one may set fire to another person's property without prior permission. 
• It is illegal to carry a fishbowl or aquarium onto a bus because the sound of the water sloshing may disturb other passengers. 
• No one may kneel on a pedestrian skywalk. 
• Spitting on city buses is outlawed. 
• Persons may not wear a life jacket near a public body of water. 
• TV's may not be bought on Sundays. 
• Strippers may not come closer than four feet to any customer. 
• No structure shall contain more than two toilets that use potable water for flushing. 
• It is illegal to give noxious substances to a bird in any city park. 
• You may not ride an ugly horse  
• And many more.

These misshapen, malfunctioning hunks of metal are not much of a threat to any metahuman. They’ll sound their klaxons and chase you with grabbing hands, intent on hefting you above their heads and taking you directly to the nearest authority. This could be a police offer, but it’s much more likely to anyone with authority nearby. Don’t be surprised if your captor rockets through the windows of a board meeting, dropping you in front of the CEO expectantly.
They’re surprisingly durable, at least physically. It’s probably possible to overload them mentally without much effort, a simple logic puzzle or two might do. Or just bring up a few conflicting laws! Maybe even break as many as possible. Best to team up and grab a buddy so they don’t know who to chase.

CLIFF NOTES.

➢ New arrivals will be appearing in Central City. They fall from the skies and are caught moments before impact by magic users from the guilds.

➢ Taking advantage of thinned spots between dimensions caused by the Confluences and the recent opening to the Underworld, the otherdimensional tyrant known as the Forerunner is attacking the city.

➢ The Forerunner uses mind control devices and monsters to try to bring the city under his thumb. The mind control devices instill a sense of loyalty and devotion to the Forerunner.

➢ Those who are under his mind control will attack key infrastructure in the city, including hospitals. Players must defend themselves from a hoard of mind-controlled civilians, metas, and maybe even friends!

➢ This will last roughly one day before being brought under control. A heck of an entrance, though! In the aftermath, newbies will be brought to the DIADEM HOTEL.

➢ In Sunset Falls, the annual rituals to appease the Pumpkin King must be undertaken. The ritual involves showing him your truth. You must take a mask and put it on your face, and the mask's appearance will reflect your deepest truth.

➢ Two characters will be randomly paired together, and must share a truth about themselves. This can be any number of things, both possible and impossible, like the recovery of something long-lost (or gone forever), a short-term goal they're desperate to accomplish, or a lifelong dream they keep aspiring towards. Once done, the spirit is pleased and departs, allowing winter to come.

➢ In Excelsior, a scientist has made robots that are programmed to uphold the law! Unfortunately, he didn't specify which laws, and these robots are now trying to enforce some really weird ones.

➢ These robots are largely harmless. They're physically strong but mentally dim. They're mostly loud, bumbling, and doing their best. If caught, you'll be brought to the nearest authority - who can be anyone in a position of power, or who simply radiates authority.

➢ The easiest way to beat them is to break as many weird laws as possible. Team up and get creative. Or if you think you can take them head on, suit up and beat them up.

➢ Current Players are welcome to treat this as a bonus event. These events are canonically happening within the game but can be largely ignored if you'd prefer to use the month for personal plots. You can tag into the TDM, reference these prompts in network posts, or use them in your own logs.

WILDCARD.

Metaheroes takes inspiration from all walks of comics. Take a look at the CITIES to get an idea as to what day to day life is like in the other cities. Perhaps you've encountered a supervillain (or hero) who needs to be thwarted, or a metahuman with unusual powers creating bizarre effects. You can also take a look at the MISSION BOARD to get your start as a professional hero, villain, or vigilante.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

a. the Hotel
[ Not all that long ago, during a particularly rough bout of insomnia, Ted spent one night at Beard's flat and — to the surprise of neither of them — talked until sunrise. About sleep, mostly, and dreams of the unconscious and conscious kind, and Beard told Ted all he knows on the topic.

For a ~~soccer~~ football coach, he sure does know a lot.

But that's the case with many, many subjects, and Ted's gotta be honest, he's a little envious of Beard's sponge-like capacity for learning pretty much anything.

Anyway, one of the things Beard taught Ted that night is that the falling sensation you get when falling asleep is called a hypnic jerk, and it's caused, maybe, by all sorts of things. "Probably anxiety, in your case," he had said, making Ted frown. Because yeah, probably. "But," Beard added, "It happens to everyone, so, y'know, don't go feeling special."

What he meant was: Don't use this as a(nother) reason to be hard on yourself about your feelings.

So Ted is a little confused when he doesn't wake up from his latest hypnic jerk, and instead finds himself... somewhere, wrapped in sparkly ribbons, his face mere inches from the pavement.

Huh.

Some time later, after he's been brought up to speed (sort of; he barely remembers a thing he was just told on account of the whole you're stuck here message overriding everything else) and ferried to the swankiest hotel he's ever seen, he finds himself standing in the lobby, fingers flexing, looking bewildered.

If there's a good time to catch his attention, it's now. ]

b. the hospital

[ Chaos falls from the sky, literally, and Ted finds himself booking it toward the hospital. He's a lover, not a fighter; the best he can offer right now is several years' worth of first aid experience — and while holding a dislocated shoulder in place or bandaging a split forehead or finding a tooth lost on the ~~field~~ pitch isn't quite the same as whatever the fuck (ope, pardon the French) is happening here, it's still something.

Plus, if he focuses on helping others, he doesn't have to think too hard about the very real, very unfortunately not-a-dream, very terrifying events unfolding around him, and as far as he's concerned helping others is always preferable to having a nervous breakdown. ]

I'm not a doctor — [ He says to the first person he almost literally runs in to when he makes it inside, if they can make out his words through all the panting. ] — but I can help. [ A pause. ] I think. Gimme somethin' to do, I'll figure it out.

[ look, normally billy teleports wherever he needs to go--often into back alleys behind buildings these days, given sentiments in the city--but sometimes it's nice to just take a walk, especially when job-hunting. so he's coming back from one such walk, buttoned up in a coat and scarf against the chill, when he breezes through the lobby and spots a guy that looks.. pretty lost.

oh. he must have just arrived.

unbuttoning his coat as he approaches, he offers a quick, reassuring smile, unlooping his scarf and then offering out a hand. ]

Hi, I'm Billy. You just fell out of the sky, huh? I'd hazard a guess that it's not what you planned to do with your day.

[ Reassuring smiles are nice. Ted could use about two dozen more of those right now, but one's a start.

He returns a smile of his own, wavering and uncertain. ]

Not... exactly, no. I was gonna grab some coffee when I woke up, and — well, I guess I still could get coffee, but it won't be from Bonne Bouche, that's for sure.

[ his smile tilts up crookedly, sympathetic. ] Afraid not. There are some pretty decent coffee places around, though, depending on your vibe. [ the mustache sort of makes it hard to tell how old the stranger is, but if billy had to guess, he'd say in his mid-forties? maybe? (he sort of reminds him of his dad, honestly.)

he hesitates a moment, then jerks his thumb back toward the door. ] There's a place just down the street if you're interested. I'll buy, we can sit at a table and you can have a little while to just.. process.

Shoot. Well —

[ Ted hesitates. Looks at the door. Looks back at the young man in front of him. Nods. Coffee sounds like a good idea — coffee sounds normal. Ted could do with some normal. ]

— sure, yeah. Lead the way. Better clear your schedule, though, 'cause I'm gonna need a heckuva lotta time for that.

I didn't really have any plans for the day, [ he reassures him with a huff of laughter, buttoning his coat back up and then heading toward the door. ] Come on, it's not far. Are you going to be warm enough?

[ out on the street, billy turns them down the sidewalk, pointing out a building a couple of blocks down. even if the older man's a little chilly, they don't have far to go, at least. ]

I didn't catch your name, by the way. Where do you call home?

[ He's not chilly, because - ]

Love when I can two-birds-one-stone somethin', though for the record I do not condone animal cruelty - the name's Ted Lasso, currently from a li'l town in London called Richmond but born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. [ The superior Kansas City. Sorry not sorry, Kansas. ] So yeah, a little cold won't hurt these ol' Midwestern bones. Appreciate the concern.

[ Ted walks with his hands in the pockets of his khakis, keeping stride with Billy easily enough, except for when he stops short. ]

- I owe you a handshake. 'Scuse my poor manners. [ He offers a hand that, once shaken, will disappear back into his pocket. ] It's real nice to meet you, Billy.

[Rebecca is fairly certain that at some point in the last two hours she went into shock; it's the only rational explanation for the fact she isn't having an entire meltdown about being in another universe where people have superpowers and run around in silly costumes as if they've stepped out of a comic book.

She's operating on autopilot, which is at least something she has experience with, nodding her way through mind-numbing board meetings that she doesn't care about. She does care about this, on account of being stuck right in the middle of it, but there'd been too much information to truly process, so she'd nodded along until they'd finally given her a credit card and directions to a hotel.

She'd done her due diligence in checking out the hotel — nice enough for a short stay — and had thought that getting some fresh air might do her good, which is how she finds herself walking out through the lobby as Ted is walking in.

The relief she feels upon seeing him is immediate and overwhelming. Is he going to be able to fix any of this? No. But he's a familiar face, and that counts for everything.]

Ted!

[In normal circumstances, she tries to maintain a more professional relationship, but right now she has zero qualms about closing the distance between them so she can pull him into a hug.

He'll just have to deal with this tremendous hardship.]

[ The thing about seeing Rebecca here and Rebecca hugging him is that it doesn't at all help bolster Ted's waning optimism that maybe this really is all a dream — because he can count on one hand the number of times that's happened and all of those circumstances were pretty... emotional. This doesn't feel that way.

But Rebecca seems a bit that way.

And Ted thinks maybe it doesn't feel that way to him because he's, you know, dissociating or whatever.

Still, his arms reflexively wrap around her, and he just stands there for a second. Breathing. ]

Hi. You here to tell me I'm dreamin' and I should wake up before I miss your call tellin' me I overslept? And I can blame this on all the Thai food I ate last night? [ Pause. ] Wait, that was two nights ago —

[The hug is nice, but more reassuring is the fact that Ted immediately launches into a meaningless ramble of words. If nothing else in this place makes sense, at least Ted is still Ted, and Rebecca feels a wave of fondness for this ridiculous man.]

Ted.

[A little less excited this time, a little more firm, in the way that's meant to catch his focus.]

As much as I would love to wake up back in my bed, I think that particular ship has sailed for the time being.

[This is definitely real. Unfortunately.]

[ That tone of voice works wonders; Ted snaps into focus, blinking owlishly at Rebecca's face as if seeing it (and believing it) for the first time. ]

Alright. Okay.

[ Okay.

Not okay.

But - okay. ]

- this is nuts, right?

Okay.

[What if instead of having her own freak out, she just focuses on making sure Ted doesn't have one? This is a perfectly healthy way to deal with the situation.

She gives his shoulders a gentle squeeze before stepping back out of his personal space. If it were Keely or Sassy instead of Ted, Rebecca would probably still be hugging them as tight as humanly possible, but that'd probably be a little weird with Ted.]

I was going to say it's fucking bonkers, but yours works, too. [The mouth on her.] Should we get a drink?

[That solves all problems.]

[ Weird and yet not unwelcome, because Ted immediately misses being held, but that's just his barely-suppressed panic talking. He smooths down his shirt for the sake of doing something with his hands before they find his pockets. ]

- yeah no yours much more accurately captures the situation, I think.

[ LOOK HE'S NOT GONNA START CUSSING YET, OKAY ]

That is an outstanding idea. You know where we can get one?

ted lasso | the very same

hotel!

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hotel

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Hotel

Re: Hotel

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b. the hospital

eliot!!

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hope you don't mind me still tagging! or the delay!