The Misfits [M&M2E, 3-5 players needed]

[Cyclone]

Game Title: The Misfits
System: Mutants & Masterminds Second Edition
Players Wanted: 3-5
Posting Rate: Minimum twice a week.
Special Rules: Cinematic maximum hits, challenges, certain feat options from Mastermind's Manual, PL 7/100pp characters, themed powers.
Advancement Rules: Per adventure basis

This is combination of the My Parents Are Evil and the Techheads Unite concepts I initially posted up in the Looking for GM/Players forum. Characters are students at Sky High and either are supergeniuses or have supervillian parent(s). Supergeniuses who seek to go into the costumed heroics business are viewed with suspicion, dating back the likes of Bomb Voyage in the Golden Age of Superheroes and exacerbated by Syndrome's role in the Omnidroid Incident at the beginning of the Return of Superheroes and the Royal Pain incident most recently.

Although you are PL 7 characters, this is a case of power outstripping your skills. You pretty much have all the power you'll get and will improve your skills as you advance through school until you reach the "adult super average" of PL 10. Therefore, I expect trade-offs of attack and defense bonuses in favor of save DCs and toughness saves.

If you are the child of a supervillain (or two), detail the supervillain parent(s) first. I don't want anything on the actual PC until I have the supervillain parent(s) detailed to my satisfaction. Do not include stats, but include his/her personality, a general overview of abilities and powers, motivations, goals, a physical description, and whether s/he ranks as an A-list, B-list, or C-list villain. Remember, you likely inherited powers similar to ones your super parent(s) had.

An A-list villain is the sort who would be able to threaten a superhero team or lead a world-threat supervillain team (Dr. Doom, Magneto, Atomic Brain, Superior). A B-list villain ranks well as the "arch-nemesis" of a single good hero but isn't capable of taking on a team in most cases (Metallo, Green Goblin). A C-list villain is someone who can challenge a single good hero but only on their home turf (most of Arkham's inmates). A D-list villain, just for reference, would be someone who generally cannot even manage a temporary victory against a single good hero (Rhino).

If you are a supergenius, you probably are either a gadgeteer or a battlesuit. Pick one and stick with it. Cybernetics are good too, provided there's a good backstory.

Magic does not exist, and I don't even want to address mentalists at this stage. Costumed adventurers do not exist either.

Regarding the themed powers requirement. This basically means no paragons and no oddball power suites (though force fields with invisibility is an exception, I'd prefer not to have that combo appear, as it's a headache). All your powers must fit a theme. A super-strong brick is fine. A super-speedster is fine. A flyer is fine. A manipulator of a specific type of energy is fine. Combining them is not.

Finally, all PCs must actually BE heroes at heart. No anti-heroes. Period. Full stop. Exclamation point.

Preference will be given to those who have already contacted my privately with concepts or come from Ronin's board with concepts.

[levinwurth]

Quick question - general theme of the game? Is this going to be four-colour, Saturday morning cartoons type setting? Or are we going quite mature and gritty? I'm thinking up a Plant Controller concept, and your answer will determine whether I take powers like Stun and Nauseate over powers like Strike and Drain.

[Cyclone]

It's sort of both, really.  It's outwardly a four-color, Saturday-morning-cartoon world, but underneath it is a layer of iron age-y grim and grittiness, but more for social issues like prejudice than for blood, gore, or sex.

The four-color aspect dominates, though.  You're still high school kids, after all.  Just high school kids who have to deal with being prejudiced against.

Sort of an X-Men in reverse kinda thing.

[The Phantom]

Oooh, this seems very interesting, here's my concept:



Maverick

Pete Kazanski was [and I suppose, still is] a rebel. He wears his hair long, he listens to Heavy Metal, he doesn't listen to his parents and he has an IQ the goes off most standard charts. His parent's weren't particularly special people, fate just wanted to gift this boy with massive intelligence and aptitude for science [particularly Physics]. He was taking apart home electronics at age 3, re-designing his dad's car at 6 and creating alternitive means of fuel at age 10. His life's project though, was 'The Suit', a high-tech suit of battle armour capable of taking on villains and heroes alike [but mostly villains, he thought it would be much cooler to fight villains]. He finally finished it at 16, after cobbling together parts from any and every source he could find. Now all he needs is to get through high school without the damn thing blowing up and without super-villains crashing through his window......

Appearence
If you looked at Pete, you'd see a 5'4, thin, pale kid with intense blue eyes and long straggly brown hair. He'd probably be quite handsome if he bothered with taking care of his appearence. He wears black t-shirst [almost always inscribed with a Metal band's logo] and jeans like they were going out of fashion [to see Pete in shorts is like seeing a total eclipse, it'll happen once in a lifetime]. He always has  a pair of welding goggles [usually on his head], and his customized tool belt on him somewhere, which further adds to his wierd appearence.

Personality
Pete's smart, and he knows it. It doesn't make him cocky, but he's very confident in his abilities. He usually comes off as being intense and brooding, but he's a nice enough guy once you get to know him [and if you can keep up with the constant stream of technobabble]. Despite the fact that he's smarter than most 'nerds' he acts almost completely the opposite [unless you heard him talk about complex science/electronics etc.. you'd take him for an average rocker kid].

Game Mechanics
Big device for the Battlesuit, lots of high knowledge and craft, liberal use of the 'Fast Task' challenge, maximum Intelligence possible.

How does that strike you? If it's not to your taste I could easily whip something else up. Feel free to ask questions about the concept as well, it doesn't bother me none, and i'd like to be able to make the character suit this game really well [as I like the feel of this game]

[levinwurth]

Oleander

Real Name: Oleander Marquez
Son of: The White Dahlia, AKA Carlita Marquez, C-list Villain

Carlita Marquez was a beautiful young girl from the affluent district of Mexico City. From a young age her parents spoiled her relentlessly, and as she grew older, she spent her family's money having fun. It shocked some of her more conservative friends, but they always accepted her back into the fold. But her family hit hard times and the money ran out. No more parties for Carlita. Her father was forced to marry her to a wealthy business associate just to keep his own assets.

Carlita's new husband kept her inside a gilded cage, but she had two diversions - the lavish gardens of the property, and flirting with the men who came to visit the house. Her games became more and more audacious until her husband could not stand any more. He planned to ambush her in her precious garden, kill her for the humiliation she caused him.

Carlita could not be found after her husband's death - the walls of the garden torn down by the same aggressive kudzu that wrapped itself around his neck, startled eyes looking down at the dahlias that sprouted from his mouth. But she soon made her presence known.

Her powers were plant based, primarily an extraordinary ability to control the movement and growth of plants. Vines and branches came alive at her command to subdue anyone who stood in her way - for the physically resistant, she had her ability to exude various plant toxins to incapacitate or beguile. Those who overcame these abilities found that Carlita was no shrinking violet - her skin was as hard as mahogany and her toxic touch could lay many an opponent low.

Relocating to America, she soon began terrorising people as her alter-ego, which came to be known as the White Dahlia, the beautiful virginally dressed woman leaving her signature flower at her crime scenes. She seemed to be a black widow, unable to live without men but quickly growing tired of their perceived flaws and soon discarding them like withered blooms.

Her crimes tended to revolve around her beloved gardens, which housed many exotic and rare species of plant; often these were "liberated" from their "uncaring" owners. Other thefts were more technological, as the White Dahlia was obsessed with creating new hardier strains of vegetation that would be able to hold its own against the ravages of man. A few times she even "field-tested" these new varieties, which gave local heroes no small amount of trouble.

But perhaps her greatest experiment of all was her son, Oleander. She selected a man she thought appropriate, seduced him and then waited for her child to be born, hoping she would pass on her abilities - she was not disappointed.

Appearance

Oleander inherited a little of his mother's duskiness, but otherwise he's an achingly normal American boy, on the surface. He's 5' 5" and of average build with glossy brown hair and eyes. He typically wears simplistic and hard-wearing fabrics like denim and flannel, and he's usually at least a little sweaty and dirty from all the time he spends exploring gardens and parks.

Personality

Oleander does not consider himself particularly smart, as he's well behind others of his age in knowledge of geography, mathematics and English (though he reads and writes well enough). However, his mother has been teaching him extensively about plants from the age when he could focus more than six inches in front of him. His extensive knowledge of botany and plant chemistry is unrivalled for someone of his age, and he possesses a great knack for improvising on the fly using his skills. Other than that, he's personable enough and eager to make friends with people who aren't his mother's associates.

Powers
Plant Control, Stun, Nauseate, Growth (only affects plants), Immunity (Starvation, Poison), Protection (Impervious), Comprehend (Plants).

[hero4hire]

Concept already submitted via PM awhile ago.

Just poking my head in.

Like the concepts so far guys! 

I submitted Dark Horse the son of a retired Hero Italian Stallion and a D-List Villainess Black Friday who was known to strike fear into mall goers everywhere.

[Radical Dreamer]

Thevshi and I will be submitting an idea for twin daughters.  We're still working on the basics, I just wanted to get this post in here as a place holder while we work out the details.

[Cyclone]

Maverick looks good, though I'd like a bit more info on the battlesuit's general capabilities.

Oleander... well, one thing that I'd like a bit more info on is when and how he went from under his mum's care to a position where he could attend Sky High.

[thevshi]

As Dreamer said, here is what we have come up with together for our twin daughers of an A-list villain, Bloodstone:

Hugo Adler was born in New York to a loving working class family.  Though poor they loved him very much and did everything they could to make him happy.  An extremely bright boy he excelled at school and in turn made them very proud by being placed in advanced classes.  His knowledge grew as rapidly as he did, his studies leading him to devour book after book over the years.  By the time he was 14 he was over 5 feet tall and easily knew more then most college bound men and women.

That was when it all changed.  On his 15th birthday nature sprang its greatest gift and cruelest joke all at once.  The mutant gene that was dormant in his body awakened and infused him with the power and strength beyond most people’s imagination.  Flames sprang from his finger tips and the very ground he walked upon yielded to his very thoughts, taking any shape that he desired.  It was a grand and glorious moment and it lasted until the first person in his run down neighborhood saw him.

Mutant.  Never was there such a four lettered word.  Each utterance of it dripped with a venom and fear that permeated the air like a sickly malaise.  Friends disappeared, people vacated the streets when he appeared, and even private schools that had heard of his intelligence and were planning on recruiting him stopped returning his family’s calls.  Even though he stopped trying to use any of his abilities they still couldn’t forgive what he was.  Worse, his parent’s financial background prohibited them from moving far away where nobody knew he was a mutant.

Things finally came to a head when a group of young men, after having drunk themselves into a rage at the local bar, decided to deal with the local mutant.  With broken bottles, bats, chains, guns, and anything else they could lay their hands on they formed a mob and marched toward Hugo’s house.  It started with bricks through the windows followed by kicks to the door to break their way in.  The young boy responded by encasing himself in a rock like armor (similar to Colossus only rock and not metal) and wielding his flames.

The mob’s bravery quickly disbursed but not before the building in which Hugo lived was engulfed in flames, burning to death several people including his parents.  His entire world was crushed that day and the seeds of rage took root in his heart.  Unable to accept that he likely caused the very blaze he blamed the mob and the world that allowed people like them to do what they did.  With a vow to right the wrongs against him he disappeared into the night.

When he reappeared he unleashed the full force of his powers and his now 6’2â€� frame on the world.  Along with him came an assortment of robotic creations and powered mercenaries.  Gone was Hugo Adler, the young boy full of hope for the future.  In his place was Bloodstone, the name taken from the eerie red glow his stone armor like skin took when it was heated by his power over flame, a vicious man seeking to build his power and mold the world to what he saw as his perfect vision.

But even his hardened hart had a weakness.  While building his organization and making plans to find a suitable country to gain control over and use as the beginning of the power base he wanted to build, he for some reason took notice of a young beautiful minor actress and model, Katherine Roth.  Using his wealth to approach the actress and posing as a wealthy industrialist, Bloodstone managed to woe her, his powerful presence and mysterious nature proving attractive to Katherine.  By the time she learned the truth that he was Bloodstone, she was trapped and could not escape him.

For many years he fought against various world governments, sometimes stealing resources to put toward a plot and sometimes just to deliver a message.  One of his most memorable achievements was the near take over of a Central American country, stopped only by a group of superheroes who uncovered his plot.  Not long deterred, he then set out to raise some of the tectonic plates from the floor of the Indian Ocean and create a new land he could claim as his own.  The devices he used caused massive tidal waves that caused great loss of life before he was stopped.

He was close to succeeding in this plan, but was thwarted by the hero [leaving hero’s identity open for you Cyclone] who was able to gain help from within Bloodstone’s organization.  This help came in the form of Katherine, who helped (hero) destroy the machines Bloodstone was using to try to raise the plates, the destruction causing a chain reaction that destroyed Bloodstone’s underwater base, seemingly killing Bloodstone as well.  (hero) escaped, taking Katherine with him, who, unknown to all, was recently pregnant with Bloodstone’s twin daughters.

Just under nine months later, Katherine gave birth to the twin girls, Laura and Lisa.  The hero Katherine had helped had contacted friends in the US government and had gotten her placed in witness protection, her new name being Alison Walters.  Everything seemed normal for a long while, Alison and her daughters escaping detection by Bloodstone, who had eventually reemerged, having survived his underwater base’s destruction.  Alison had not told her daughters who their father was, despite their frequent attempts to learn his identity.  Both girls quickly showed above average intelligence, a sign that had Alison worried.

When Laura and Lisa turned 15, something that Alison had long feared happened, they both developed mutant abilities, each possessing one of their father’s abilities.  Laura gaining his control over earth and Lisa exhibiting control over fire.


Appearance: Lisa Walters is the identical twin of her sister Laura, both girls being rather tall, 5’ 9â€�, and slim, with long black hair and bright green eyes.  Both girls are rather attractive, something they gained from their mother.  Lisa dresses like a typical middle class teenage girl, though tends to be less flashy in her dress than many. 

Personality: Lisa, the younger of the two by about ten minutes, is a bit more quite and shy compared to Laura.  She is also a bit more “bookishâ€�, tending to read a great deal more than her sister.  But underneath her quite exterior is a rather fiery temper that can be rather surprising when someone sets it off. 

Powers: Fire Control, with some alts, such as blast and likely a fiery aura.  She is above average intelligence, but not so much so that she would be a supergenius. 

[Radical Dreamer]

Appearance:  Laura Walters is the identical twin of her sister Lisa.  Physically she is the mirror image of her sister with not even a half inch seperating them in height.  The only thing that seperates their appearance on any given day is their choice of clothing.  Unlike her sister's prefrence of more conservative clothing, Laura prefers to stand out with flashier colors and clothing that draws the eye to her.

Personality:  The eldest of the two siblings Laura is slightly more outgoing then her sister.  While not obnoxious about it she enjoys competing and winning against others in physical and mental activities.  When not competing she has a generally laid back personality, prefering to live and let live unless riled.  On issues she feels strongly about she can be stubborn to a fault, a trait she inherited from her father, and will defend her position firmly though not violently.

Powers:  Earth Control with some alts such as create object, trip (seismic activity, limited to grounded targets) and snare (hand of rocks, limited to grounded targets), tunneling, straight density control or alternate form (earth) for the rock skin/armor.  Perhaps a few other tweaks as points allow but mostly an earth based brick, favoring power over accuracy and toughness over defense.

[iNSOMN14]

Dorian "Kickstart" Kelly is the son of sub-D class villain Kevin "Flashpan" Kelly, a fire-controller who just never had any luck.  Kevin was a mook at best, able to "control" fire, though without any degree of finesse or control (in fact, his name comes from the fact 90% of that "control" of the fire was just making it explode in a flash fireball, usually putting out the fire in the process, leading to his enviable failure).  This left him bitter at those who he saw as getting the good end of "the gift," those able to control their powers.  It was this bitterness that eventually ruined him and everyone around him.

Dorian, however, is lot of things his father never was.  Kind, intelligent, and immune to the burn of flames.   While not gifted in the same way as his father, Dorian was able to produce flames (something his father could never do) in much the same way a rocket does.  By stamping his foot on any hard surface, Kelly rockets into the sky with tremendous force and speed, leaving behind a small scorch mark from his take-off.  Unfortunately, he did inherit his father's lack of control; Dorian is mainly at the whim of wherever his power takes him.  He eventually wants to master the ability to turn (or better yet, keep flying long enough to not fall out of the sky).

Unfortunately for a young Dorian, his father saw him as being on the good end, and regularly beat him whenever his rage got too much for him.  When his mother eventually divorced him, she won custody of their son (no big surprise, as his father was a multiple time convict as well as on the run at the time).  This was a relief for little Dorian, though his timid nature and fear of confrontation persist.

As an introvert (and almost polar opposite of his braggart father), Dorian is the shy, bookish young man.  He usually dresses a little too much for wherever he's going, mainly because his mother wants him to have a better life than she did and she wants him to look the part.  In social situations, Dorian is usually at a loss, as socially aggressives make him uncomfortable, and he's just never made friends easily.

[levinwurth]

Oleander... well, one thing that I'd like a bit more info on is when and how he went from under his mum's care to a position where he could attend Sky High.

Well, the scenario I envisioned was that, try as she might, White Dahlia couldn't erase the part of Oleander's personality that actually liked human beings - having little experience of them, he was curious about what they were and what they could do. As an extraordinary child he would most likely have heard of Sky High, and his father - largely absent and unwanted by the Dahlia that he is - would have persuaded her that he needs to mix with his own kind and make his own decisions. Although she can be callous and cruel, Carlita loves her son dearly and wants what is best for him, even though she's really hoping he gets this 'heroism' business out of his head...

[Cyclone]

Dreamer, thevshi, biggest problem I have with the twins is their father.

Bloodstone's powers don't seem to quite fit the "themed powers" the universe demands (or maybe it does, and I'm just misreading it), but more importantly... this is the Incredibles/Sky High 'verse, not Earth-616.  There is no prejudice against mutants (if anything, the prejudice is the other way around).

[Cyclone]

iNSOMN14, I LIKE Kickstart.  That power is just perfectly flavorful (and definitely on the "hero support" end of things).  I also definitely see ideas on how his powers could develop into something really potent.  I take it we're looking at Leaping with a Linked Strike (Area: Trail)?

[Radical Dreamer]

The original working title for him was "The Living Volcano" and is what we themed him after.  That's a bit too cheesy of a name so we came up with Bloodstone.  As for the prejudice thing, well, not sure what we're going to do about that.