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[personal profile] metamods



TEST DRIVE MEME

A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces. It’s common to see these at least once a month, but you might see two or three in an especially wild one. Only one of these confluences brings in people from other worlds.

Your arrival is a welcome one! Though not all the following confluences will be so joyous, the people of this world are taking you as a sign that things are finally settling down.

With that being said, you might notice that the history of this world is… changing. The world itself seems to be altering bit by bit as it settles into its new timeline. Where once metahumans as powerful as you were a rarity, now there’s a plethora of them.

You can be Neutral, living your life as an ordinary person without using your powers. But the moment you decide to make use of them, you need to make a choice.

Will you join the Guardian Alliance and use your powers for the sake of others?

Or will you join The Society, and use them for yourself?


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[personal profile] metamods



TEST DRIVE MEME


A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces. These used to happen once a month.

Used to.

Now, the world seems to be in a panic. Not only are Confluences gone, but the energy which used to clash and fuel the world seems to be fading. Scientists speculate as to what this will mean for the future - will it be one without metahumans, or will there be no future at all? The consensus seems to be clear: A world built on the wonderful, the supernatural, can simply not thrive when it’s bled dry of its life force.

Starfallen already in this world will wake from a dream, knowing that something is about to occur in Central City. Instinctively, they know where it is going to occur, and with that knowledge comes a sense of urgency. It seems that the natural metahumans got the same message as they will also be waiting.

Which is why when the skies open up on the morning of September 1st, 2023, new Starfallen tumble to the earth. For once this is met with celebration. There is a cheer throughout the country as the first few begin to appear, caught on livestreams and video.

However, the surge of energy that usually comes with them doesn’t occur. Worse - they don't have the same protections they did the first time they fell. They're tumbling towards the Earth at rapid speeds, and the Starfallen can tell that if they hit the ground it's a game over.

This is not a Confluence as anyone knows it.


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[personal profile] metamods



TEST DRIVE MEME

A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces. Typically, a Confluence only occurs in one place at any given time. Typically.

These are not typical times.

Most of the Starfallen will arrive in Excelsior, Washington, slipping from the sky one by one, needing to be helped as they come floating down. To many citizens in Excelsior – individuals who are far from fond of metahumans – their arrival is a sign of bad things to come. It’s always a sign of bad things to come. This time, however, the bad things don’t come in the typical sequence. Instead, they’re dealing with a problem when the Starfallen begin to unwittingly arrive. What’s that problem? Plants with a rather problematic taste for flesh.

While Excelsior is hoping for spring to actually stick on the horizon, they’re warding off plants left and right. At least none of the plants seem to be able to spit fire – uh, yet?

In the midwestern part of the country, a huge barrage of rain has begun to settle over the land. Rain like this isn’t normal. Stormfronts usually keep moving forward, but this isn’t. And while rain isn’t a bad thing, this rain … is a deluge. A flood upon floods. Some Starfallen individuals will be showing up in the middle of this, arriving in both Little Love and Central City. Hope they can keep their heads above water!

Making matters worse is that everything seems a bit – planned? No, that’s not the right word. Like it’s all happened before. Or happening again. People all over are definitely noticing a strange uptick in déjà vu. Most worrying is how it seems to be happening everywhere.


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[personal profile] metamods



TEST DRIVE MEME

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

Excelsior, Washington is a city full of a lot of rain. But just like the little ditty "it's raining men," today it's raining Starfallen. Their arrival is an omen for what's to come in Excelsior this early spring, as rain is most definitely on the docket. Thankfully, Excelsior's technological landscape means that it's more than prepared for green-splattered individuals to fall from the sky. Wait, green? Well, there might be a splash of it. Regardless, once the natives help them down from the large, metal and extremely advanced marvels, they'll be free to go their way.

March's arrival brings a strange rumor around the world: put a little bowl of (real dairy, no substitutes) milk outside your door, and save yourself a lot of trouble. As you'll come to see, this is very good advice to follow! Don't worry about smell of stinky milk outside your doors for long–it will get snatched up sooner rather than later. By time March winds down, you can go back to oatmilk if you wish.


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[personal profile] metamods



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

This Confluence, rather unluckily, coincides with the New Year’s festivities of this world! The Guilds have already predicted your arrival, but their forces are stretched rather thin as they also try to prevent any supervillain attacks on the parties of the rich and famous - or, alternately, as they attempt to launch these attacks.

You find yourself falling from the sky amid the multicolored explosions of fireworks. You’re caught almost immediately, some of you in glowing fields of magical power and some by automated drones whizzing through the air. Care was needed to make sure no Starfallen got hurt amid the chaos…but once you’re dropped off on the ground, you may be on your own for a little while.



I BROKE FREE ON A SATURDAY MORNING. CENTRAL CITY, MICHIGAN.
New Starfallen, once rescued by the automated systems set in place by the guilds, are safely placed on their feet somewhere on the streets below. As it happens, tonight is a bad night for it! Some new arrivals may be flown about for a few minutes before an open space can be found to sit them down, because tonight is New Year’s Eve and Central City is the place to be.

The streets here are absolutely packed with throngs of people, pushing and shoving in an effort to get from place to place, or find a better vantage point to watch the ball drop. In the central square of Central City, a massive stage has been set up for various bands to perform in the lead-up to the main event. Emceeing the event is the Alliance’s own Fantastic! Somehow, all of last year’s meta-related controversy has only launched this social media star to new heights! Some poor Alliance members may have been recruited to help with the special effects for his show, or work behind the scenes to keep Fantastic happy…good luck with that.

Unfortunately, the massive crowds and a Confluence are not the greatest combination. Some of the civilians on the scene have abruptly ceased to be civilians at all, sudden Confluence-generated powers manifesting amid the press and din of an often-intoxicated crowd. It’s something of a powderkeg. One man, upon being shoved one too many times, turns about and begins to shoot wild, uncontrolled flames from his hands. Another woman, desperate to see the shows, has begun to grow to a towering height. And there’s more people, partying hard or miserably stressed, manifesting various different kinds of powers in different ways across the city. These new metas are dangerous, but they are not malicious. What they really need is some help calming down, so that they can get their new abilities in check. Of course, those around them also need some protection from the random destruction being caused.

Then, of course, there’s those elements who are using the general activity of the city to cover up some shadier activities. Many of the fancier uptown parties being held at various rooftop lounges and hotel ballrooms will find themselves under attack by folks out to make a quick buck. Many of these high-profile robberies are being committed by metas, so anyone attempting to intervene will find themselves in for a good old-fashioned hero vs. villain smackdown...although, do you recognize these guys as Society members? Well, only one way to find out.


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. 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.


FUUUUUUUUTURE. LITTLE LOVE, KANSAS.
The holiday season is coming to a close, and in a much more sedate fashion in Little Love than in the larger cities throughout the country. The damage from the blizzard a few months back is mostly repaired now; a blanket of lovely white snow still covers the town, but power has been restored and most townspeople are safe and warm at home.

Outside, however, strange things are happening. Odd shimmering rifts in space-time are opening up around the little town. Some of these seem to move, and engulf anything in their path, leaving them unharmed but changed - seemingly, into futuristic versions of whatever they used to be. Simple farmhouses are replaced suddenly by gleaming silver towers, or on occasion by the burnt-out husks of said towers that abruptly begin - or continue - their crumbling. Cows are being replaced by robot cows with lasers for eyes, out to zap anyone who trespasses on their fields. Hope you weren’t too attached to having birds around and not weird spy drones! And, of course, a lot of things have spontaneously become chrome. Wow!

Some people may even find themselves running afoul of these rifts, and getting unusual upgrades to their outfits and powers. Were you always wearing these cool space goggles? Has your magic been replaced with sci-fi alternatives? Hopefully you can figure out how to handle these! Because while most of the future-ified plants and animals aren’t actively aggressive as long as you stay away, some of the rifts are also spitting things out. Robot footsoldiers from some distant war are beginning to wander accidentally into Little Love, and being separated from their operations base has left them without any direction. They’re just sort of shooting lasers at anyone they see, on the assumption that they’re probably enemy combatants.

Fixing any changes can be as simple as locating another rift and diving through it. Doing so will reset any changes that have occurred - though if you get caught by a third one, you’ll find the same thing happening all over again. You can, of course, also just wait it out; these things have a habit of wearing off eventually. The robots will also eventually disappear when the rifts stop, though any damage they cause will remain.


BLAST FROM THE PAST. EXCELSIOR

Meanwhile in Excelsior, similar rifts are popping up throughout the city! However, the results are entirely different. Excelsior seems to be getting thrown back into the past, piece by piece.

Some buildings have vanished entirely, replaced by open swathes of grassy field. Stepping into these areas is like entering a different climate; it's oddly cold there. The air smells different. It's like another world. You may even find that prehistoric creatures are wandering out into the alien world of Excelsior. Anything from dinosaurs to Ice Age megafauna can be seen running around, chasing people and rampaging in fear and confusion.

Metas who respond to the upheaval may find themselves affected by these changes as well. Science-based powers are likely to break down, or be replaced wholesale by old-fashioned alternatives. Magic? Steampunk contraptions? Rough tools from the Stone Age? Anything could happen - the past is a big place, too!

People here will find that the rifts work just like those that are cropping up in Little Love: passing through them again is enough to revert changes, or return any stray beasts to their proper time. However, Excelsior is facing additional issues in the sudden breakdown of much of their infrastructure. Power lines are being replaced with flowering vines, and pieces of the road are shifting suddenly into rocky ground. There'll probably be a lot more repairs needed here.



CLIFF NOTES.


➢ New arrivals will be appearing in Central City. They fall from the skies amid a fireworks display, but are caught and brought safely to the ground by magic users and machines from the Guilds.

➢ Partygoers in the cramped streets of Central City's New Year's Eve celebration are spontaneously gaining powers from the Confluence, leading to uncontrolled displays of magic in the streets!

➢ On the fancy, private party side of things, many upscale events in Central City are experiencing a rash of robberies and flashy meta-villain attacks!

➢ Elements of a far-distant future are bleeding into the rural town of Little Love! Places and people are receiving a futuristic overhaul, with occasionally dangerous results!

➢ Robotic soldiers from an unknown future war are appearing in Little Love as well! Try to destroy these stray machines, or else force them into another rift to send them home!

➢ Excelsior is experiencing a sudden paleo shift! People and places here are going Flintstones mode, and massive prehistoric beasts are claiming the streets as their own!

➢ The network of modern convenience in Excelsior is breaking down as pieces of the city alter! Metas will have to help make sure that everything stays functional!

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.


metamods: (Default)
[personal profile] metamods



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.


metamods: (Default)
[personal profile] metamods



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

Right on the heels of the near-apocalypse, the next Confluence comes right on schedule. Thin glowing cracks split the air like an eggshell, the aftershocks of August's great rifts. They seem normal - or at least, what has become normal over the past year. But since the world nearly ended last month, the people of this world have become far more jumpy. Maybe this isn't the kind of thing they should be getting used to.



A NOT-SO-WARM WELCOME. EXCELSIOR.

This shift in reality comes quickly and painlessly. One moment, you're going about your business in your own world; in the next, between blinks, you open your eyes to find yourself on AN UNFAMILIAR STREET.

The futuristic city you find yourself in appears to have been through some sort of DISASTER recently. Glass and strange metallic debris litters the streets, and the tall skyscrapers are pockmarked and even charred in some places. Despite all of that, nothing terrible appears to be happening right now; rather, there's an active CLEAN-UP EFFORT happening.

Despite this show of community spirit, it seems like a lot of the locals aren't too pleased to see you. People might glare, or even flee, when they see you emerge out of thin air. If you approach one of the groups to ask where you are, or what on earth just happened, it's possible that they'll grumble about "more freaking metas" and try to get rid of you.

You aren't the only personas non grata in the city. If you wander long enough, or are observant enough, you may catch sight of the odd flying car or robotic mechanism that isn't acting like the rest. The ROUGE AI who have survived this far are now in hiding, trying to avoid the destruction that's met the rest of their kin. Maybe you can work together? Or maybe they're even more hyped for the destruction of humanity now.

Eventually, you will be able to find some exhausted-seeming representatives of the (stretched very thin) Guilds, who will gather you up and take you back to their headquarters for orientation. And maybe your new robot friends, should you make any.


DIADEM HOTEL

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 highly anticipated THOROUGHBRED: HEART OF A CHAMPION movie, a biopic about the first animal-turned-metahuman superhero. It will make you laugh, cry, and determine that yes - a horse can play baseball.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world. 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.


BITS AND BOBS. CENTRAL CITY, MICHIGAN

CENTRAL CITY is still seeing some strange after-effects from the recent interdimensional incident! Luckily, no people are appearing or disappearing anymore. Instead, it seems that INANIMATE OBJECTS are still being affected by minor dimensional rifts. Sometimes, things disappear; someone's bike may vanish from the bike rack where they left it, or you might find the furniture in your hotel room has suddenly gone missing.

Far more common, however, are items appearing from other worlds. Some of these are mundane: unusual brands of food or drink, or maybe clothes according to the fashion trends of another dimension. But a lot of them are stranger. Some are pieces of technology clearly not native to this dimension, such as small personal speeders or ADVANCED WEAPONS. Others may be MAGICAL, though if you aren't familiar with the item in question, you might just have to pick up the weird amulet to see what it does.

There's also the chance that something from your world has fallen through. A small trinket that you miss. Your favorite kind of soda, not available in this world. The keys to your car that you'll walk the city trying to find, clicking the unlock button until something responds.

This has never been the safest of cities. Interdimensional weapons are a problem in the wrong hands and those hands are quite ready to kill if you should find yourself holding them. It's a dangerous place to walk alone at night, even for some metas; the criminals here have long since gotten used to having to fight superpowered foes. Emboldened by the chaos the city descended into last month, there's been a rash of muggings and burglaries lately - and these are only made worse by the sudden availability of random, occasionally incredibly good gear.

You may run into bands of particularly ambitious thieves, using their newfound loot to rob banks or hold people up. You may also find these people losing control of these things they don't understand, causing magical or technological backlash. Either way - maybe you can find some good loot drops yourself to help out?


BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. SUNSET FALLS, MASSACHUSETS.

There's a DEMON in Sunset Falls. Which isn't at all a surprise - there's always a demon in Sunset Falls.

Yet this one is special. The first extra-dimensional visitor since the universe was restored to its rightful place in the wider multiverse. Attracted to the power of the Hellmouth and the lingering magic of the Willow Maiden thick in the air, a Wish Demon known as Charles has settled within the city. New arrivals will find themselves met by a friendly stranger who is oh so hungry for the energy they're radiating, their connection to this world fresh and begging to be harvested.

I can grant your hearts desire, he says. And you needn't answer him. The thought that pops into your head is precisely what he sets about giving to you... though of course, it's not exactly what you want. The demon derives his power from the misery and despair left when hope breaks. Wish to return home and you'll find yourself in an illusionary world where everything has gone wrong. Your body will remain on the ground, and all those who touch you will be transported to this nightmare.

Wish for the object of your desires to return your affections, and you'll find them suddenly obsessed with you. Either compelled to look like you, or desperate to be with you.

Wish to be the most powerful or skilled at something, and find all those around you suddenly weaker while your strength remains unchanged.

All in all, the demon thinks himself untouchable. There's no real sign that he's done anything. No contract made or signed. He's simply granting unspoken wishes. The beings of this realm don't appear to be very powerful or intelligent and so he leaves himself unguarded. Perhaps you'll rearrange his smug little face to free you and the others he's trapped from their curse.


I DREAM A DREAM SO PRETTY. EVERYWHERE.

The Dreamers of the Willow Maiden are one of the better known cults in the world, though calling it a cult feels a little... extreme. They're harmless and sweet, offering guidance on getting the best night's sleep possible. They believe that to be well-rested and happily dreaming is to be close to the divine.

As such, they've provided a generous donation to the Diadem Hotel. Pillows.

Laying your head upon one of their enchanted pillows will allow you to fall into a deep and restful sleep. And in this sleep, you will find yourself having the most vivid dreams.

Perhaps you dream of something mundane. You go through your morning routine as normal, unaware that the words you're reading are scrambled and the clock won't tell you true time. You see nothing strange about the people around you being more concept than human. Perhaps you're the kind to dream yourself late to work, rushing to the office and not realizing until you've arrived that you've forgotten your clothes. Others blink and find themselves cast as classmates, or coworkers.

Or perhaps your mind is more given to the fantastical. You're recreating the plot of a movie you just watched, yourself as either the hero or the villain. Or the side character that's suddenly thrust into greatness. Do you fall into the fantasy of it, believing yourself to be someone else? Or are you lucid, controlling everything within the dream?

There's also the chance for a nightmare. One that twists out of your control, growing on every anxious fear. There are the regular ones - the ones that involve teeth, or falling, drowning, anxiety driven things that have you waking just before you meet your untimely end... only these dreams are so solid, so deep, that you need someone to reach out a hand and remind you that this isn't real. That you're safe back in your bed.

Whatever your dream, you'll wake rested and feeling surprisingly...loved.



CLIFF NOTES.


➢ Newbies will be arriving in Excelsior. Have fun dealing with unfriendly locals and maybe-friendly, maybe-murderous fugitive robots!

➢  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.

➢ The biggest rifts in reality have been fixed, but there are some lingering affects, such as random items disappearing or appearing. You can take advantage of these loot drops, but it seems that criminal elements are doing the same.

➢ There's a wish demon on the loose again in Sunset Falls! He's granting cursed wishes, even unspoken ones, though it shouldn't be too hard to find him if you want to put a stop to it.

➢ Newbies will find that the enchanted pillows have appeared in the Diadem Hotel as well! Anyone who sleeps on these can have dreamwalking adventures with each other - or nightmare adventures, as the case may be.


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.


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[personal profile] metamods



TEST DRIVE MEME
Something is… wrong. It’s something you’ve all felt before, whether from proximity to the kaijuu blood or from falling through your own Confluences. It’s as though reality is thinning, stretching around you.

It’s starting small. A building on the street may shift into a different building - perhaps even one you recognize from home. People on the streets flicker, and you see familiar faces out of the corners of your eyes. At night, anyone who pays attention can see that even the stars themselves are changing. Sometimes, the constellations you see when you look up shouldn’t be visible from Earth at all. Planets and stars far from home glitter in foreign skies, and you feel a sense of dread.

Across the country, people are filming their own odd phenomenon. Some are more intense than others, but all do seem to be centered in places where metas tend to live or congregate.

What the guilds had initially perceived as a sign things were returning to normal - confluences becoming more mild, less potent - is a sign things have turned for the worse. Confluences are no longer singular bursts of meta-energy, they’re steady bleeds.

And this time, the confluence rocks the entire country.


Read more... )
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[personal profile] metamods



TEST DRIVE MEME
A confluence is defined as the convergence of one or more forces. A Confluence, capitalized, is the converging of one or more supernatural forces.

Confluences have been mild ever since the Godfall Event occurred in the 1980s. The older generations tell their children of the confluences they remember as children, the earth-shaking events that transformed the landscape of the world (and the people) every time they occurred. Now they're largely inconveniences. An explosion of experimental ALIEN NANOBOTS here, a magical LIGHTNING STORM there, nothing particularly disruptive to day to day life.



ONLY SHOOTING STARS. CENTRAL CITY.

Awareness hits you in a rush. As does the sound of a town’s EMERGENCY ALARMS WAILING.  Just as you begin to register the sound, you realize how quickly the towering skyscrapers are coming up to meet you. You may throw your hands up to shield yourself from witnessing your own grisly demise. Not to worry - THREADS OF MYSTICAL ENERGY rush up to meet you, grabbing for limbs and catching you before you make landfall.  A NET MADE OF STARS has come up to cradle you, giving you a much gentler entry into this world than most others have received thus far. A smattering of exhausted looking people holding staves and wands peer up at you and attempt to smile, though they appear to be much more focused on keeping you held aloft.

Correction. They’re keeping MOST of you aloft. The mystical net made of stars doesn’t seem quite large enough to cover the entire sky. THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE FALLING. Perhaps you’re not spared the fall, plummeting through the gap in the net and straight into someone’s living room. Or car. Or straight into the sewer systems.


DIADEM HOTEL

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 highly anticipated DROP DEAD GORGEOUS movie, a thriller wherein a fictional beauty queen accidentally swallows a fragment of the Necronomicon and becomes the world’s most powerful necromancer. Oh, and her boyfriend transforms into her chainsaw.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world. 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.


MAY FLIES AND FLOWERS. EXCELSIOR.

EXCELSIOR has just opened its very own BOTANICAL GARDEN! The facility is roughly the size of a city block, a modern monolith of steel and glass, specially equipped to prevent birds from flying into the many windows. There’s plants from all over the world growing inside, different rooms hosting rare and exotic specimens from different climates. Each mini-biome has animals native to the regions they mimic, of course - not a great many of them, but you’re likely to see some insects and birds flitting here and there.

To better protect the guests, all animals inside are man-made creations - be they mechanical or genetically engineered for a single purpose. The most notable of these projects is a MECHANICAL BUTTERFLY enjoying its first test flight. Researchers hope that these butterflies can be introduced into nature to aid the waning bee populations. These butterflies, beautiful creations spun from delicate metal wire, can be found in nearly any of the ecosystems present in the Botanical Garden. Aside from being hardy and efficient, they’re also equipped with a CHEMICAL ENHANCEMENT that makes the pollen they collect twelve times more potent. Everything’s getting pollinated in here! Best hope you don't have allergies.

This SPECIAL POLLEN also has the side-effect of making anyone in the vicinity feel quite lonely or loved. Theorized as a way to make dates more intimate, no more consideration was put into the ethical ramifications of subtly altering people’s mood for commercial benefit. It’s Excelsior, after all, hopefully someone warned you they view ethics as optional.

Should you have come to this beautiful slice of nature alone you may find yourself OVERWHELMED WITH LONELINESS as the flock fly overhead. Yet this loneliness comes with an edge of courage. Perhaps you’re emboldened to approach another lonely heart and ask if they would care to accompany you. 

If you’ve come with someone you all may find yourselves feeling much more WARM AND AFFECTIONATE towards them. Such a pretty place, such great company - let’s spend some real quality time!


WORKING ALL ANGLES. SUNSET FALLS.

Be you hero, villain, or unaligned - socialite KATHERINE WEST has a request for you. Miss West appears to be quite distressed. The weirdness of Sunset Falls has put her dear father in a bit of a pickle and she’s looking for strapping heroes (and villains, and unaligned, really anyone with two feet and a heartbeat) to help out. She states that she’s no metahuman and so she can’t offer you a team-up, but she can offer you a shoutout on her Instagram page.

The TASKS she’s issuing seem simple on the surface. Safe enough that you may be swayed by her sweet smile and the 15 million followers who might take a shine to you.


HUNT SOME WOLVES.


A shame she didn’t mention that these wolves are WEREWOLVES.

A pack of werewolves has been wreaking havoc in the PARK. They come out at night to grow their pack. Nearly a dozen locals have been conscripted by this infectious bite.

Luckily, there is a POTENTIAL SOLUTION! This particular brand of lycanthropy can be cured if you grievously wound them with a SILVER WEAPON. A quick google also tells you that curing the ALPHA – or killing him – will end the curse for the whole pack. She’s twice the size of a direwolf with jaws like a steel trap. 

Granted, killing them is the faster solution. There is a slight hitch in that plan. These wolves REVERT BACK TO HUMAN FORM upon death. It might look weird to find a bunch of bodies in the park so you’d best be prepared to clean up after yourself.

There’s always the risk you’ll get bit and JOIN THEM. Should this happen, the transformation will come on suddenly and painfully, your body distorting under the light of the moon. The ANIMAL INSTINCTS will come on just as powerfully - you’re part of a pack now, and you’re out on a hunt. Hopefully some kind soul can hit you with silver or take out your alpha, because you won't turn back on your own.


HERE KITTY KITTY.


Miss West has tasked you with finding all of the town’s TREED CATS. This one is an easy enough task, right? For the last four months there's been an absurd amount of cats getting stuck in trees.

Well, it seems two months of storing AMBIENT CHAOS MAGIC has made these cats more unpredictable than usual. Chaos magic isn't something you want to mess with, especially not when it's held in purrsnickety paws. It's easy to snatch them from the branches if they don't know you're coming, but if you approach under their watchful eye you'll begin to find the rules of reality start to bend. The ocean becomes a sky full of fish, and the grass beneath you a warm carpet warmed by a sunbeam. Your thoughts and feelings suddenly seem to be able to influence this space - so careful! You wouldn't want your worst fears to suddenly manifest.

Now would be a really bad time to remember that dream where all your teeth fall out.


DANCING SHADOWS.


This one is fairly simple. All Miss West wants is a PICTURE OF YOUR SHADOW. She gives you her best camera and asks you take the very best shot you can.

The ambient mystical energies of Sunset Falls are known to be chaotic. The LINGERING MAGIC of the spell that snatched you from the sky is ignited. Your shadow begins to glimmer faintly like the night sky itself. If you catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye, you could swear you spy your shadow smiling back. Its eyes appear to be bright, burning stars.

These stars grant it a RUDIMENTARY SENTIENCE. And with it, liberation! No longer is it bound to your feet.  Your shadow-self wants to live it's very best life and that means doing whatever impulsive thing strikes its brand new consciousness. CAUSING MAYHEM, infecting other shadows with its newly gained brilliance. Before long, the town is OVERRUN with dancing shadows. While their antics don't affect the physical space, if you glance down at the ground in pure chaos.

The magically inclined among you may want to work together to bind your shadows back to your feet. It's not good for a person to be split between planes like this. It's not good for the world, either, as the ground seems to give an ominous rumble every now and again. Catch your shadow and pin it under your foot!


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.