Creativity Tropes and Favs

[Coyotedancer]

On Everlasting, I tend towards the members (Or descendants, in the case of my Nova Primeva time-travelers-) of a particular faction of rogue Oranbegans, and a few "assorted others" who are affiliated with them. (Like the self-aware warding spell of the Sanctum, or the animate figurehead of their artifact warship, or the arcane manifestation of my Thorn Wielder's blade-) There's a lot of individual variation when it comes to personalities and backstories and such within that basic framework, of course... Artemian the Madness Mage, who was nearly eaten by Mot, is a very different person than Kaikara, the one and only mortal Death Mage, or Dorian Stanton/Gentleman Spectre, the time-hopping Ordus Mentem adventurer who'll train as Arte's apprentice x-hundred years in the future... But they do all share that same "starting point". The 'White Thorns' affiliated with the Nemissary and the Temple of Primeva. 

 

Back in the Live days, I played a whole flight of what I jokingly called my "bird-things"... A non-canon species of Rularuu. Faathim's creatures... 

I also have a few of them here, on Excelsior.

 

The Ghosts and the Birds don't include ALL of my characters, but between the two they traditionally have made up the bulk of them.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Coyotedancer

[Dreamboat]

The large majority of my characters get their powers from technology, ARE technology, or use some form of technology as an aid even if it isn't the source of their powers. So that means a whole lot of people in power armour or special suits of some kind, a bunch of robots, and as an example of the last one: I have an Electric blaster who's of Science origin (they got their powers in the ol' reliable lab accident) and is meant to have a fairly standard spandex look, but I gave them the Clockwork chestpiece from Chest Detail and wrote it as a kind of harness that helps them better channel and control their electricity. Technology!
My other thing is if I'm making a character who doesn't use tech at all, they'll most likely end up as some kind of freaky or monstrous-looking thing. I love the idea of heroes who are scary or unsettling to look at, and so I've got more than a few insectoid characters running around. Making a Mutation origin? Slap some antennae on that sucker! There can never be enough bugmen with psychic powers! (I hate bugs in real life but I can't stop. Please send help)

Edited February 24, 2020 by Dreamboat

[VileTerror]

I'm a fan of the good ol' "regular person is fed up with all these damnable metas zipping about."

a.k.a.:  Natural characters, with powersets that are decidedly NOT super, but still manage to hold their own against people with magic, mutations, scientific, or technological advantages.

 

But statistically speaking?  That only accounts for roughly 39% of my characters.  And one might argue that some of those Naturals should be Technologies, since . . . technically speaking, a wrench is a piece of Technology.  The other 61% are mainly Science and Tech, with the rare Mutant or Magic.

[Virtual Green]

A substantial ammount of my characters tend to come from military backgrounds, whether they be real (army, counter-intelligence, etc) or from the in-game lore (FBSA, Wyvern, a lot of Malta, etc), but as a whole I just enjoy playing human/"powerless" characters. I've always like characters without superpowers having to fight / work alongside metahumans in comics (think Batman, Hawkeye, Green Arrow, etc), as it tends to highlight the human element of the stories, and I always respected how these sort of characters had to push themselves harder to compensate their lack of special abilites.

My other thing is making my characters lore-related, usually part of an in-game organization or a former member. Mostly because I like to RP certain contact choices while playing games (a vigilante from Axis America always looking for a chance to fight the 5th Column, for instance), but also because the game has such a complex and interesting lore that I like to find clever ways to tie my toons to it.

[Bastille Boy]

Rogue Isles Police Department: They're terrible at maintaining order, but they're great at generating revenue. Income sources include bribes, private security contracts, and the for-profit prison west of Port Oakes. The RIPD is a dream job for a villain with modest aspirations: a steady paycheck, three weeks' vacation a year, and a fortress with a few hundred defeated heroes in cages.

 

The RIPD got me: I guess it's game over. I might as well just swallow the pill. I wonder how long it will take for the power-suppressing drugs to kick in? I hear the side effects are nasty. I'm fine so far. Wait... Holy crap, I feel amazing. It's like I'm invulnerable. And I can still fly! Yes, Officer, of course I will help the RIPD fight the Council. Yes, I understand that the RIPD gets any cash, gold, devices, or art I find. When do you want me home? I mean, back in the Pen?

 

Empathy, PVP theme: Sometimes, superhuman empathy comes from superhuman suffering. Sometimes, it comes from being a nerdy kid who got bullied a lot and was always picked last for kickball.

 

Social science origin:  You don't need magic to hypnotize, dominate, terrify, and inflict psychic pain. You just need to study human behavior. Several hypnotists in the Rogue Isles offer instruction. Paragon City University has excellent psychology and criminology programs at its Steel Canyon campus. The most complete course of study is the immersive education program in Brickstown. Some students take a long time to graduate.

 

Mom and Dad have powers too: Their child's ice-summoning powers are clearly genetic. It's unclear whether the extreme stubbornness comes from nature or nurture. Probably both. "Willpower" is such a generous name for it.

 

Magic lessons as origin for ancillary powers: Developing a full primary powerset takes talent and years of dedicated study, but learning one or two spells isn't that hard if you can find a good teacher.

 

Playing Robin Hood: The character can be any alignment, depending on how the story is told!

Edited February 24, 2020 by ejworthing

[SeraphimKensai]

Lately I've been on a kick adding some accident happened or some monster or traumatic experience helped develop the character into who they are for better or worse.

 

Some recent examples being:

 

A college student who developed their powers but couldn't control them, ending up uncontrollably killing people and being subsequently locked up in an Arkham Asylum-esque institution and coming to grips with that and learning to harness their powers.

 

A teenager in Axis America who developed their powers and was forced to watch their family killed by Nazis and then be conscripted into Reichsman's army complete with thought reconditioning but due to an accident received head trauma and started thinking for himself.

 

A champion martial artist who became paralyzed from the neck down, but developed telekinesis to move it's body.

 

Then more so of a joke and a shout-out at ultra conservative political norms in certain socioeconomic subcultures I made a very entertaining and satirical religious based toon as well, the American Jesus complete with assault rifle that turns prayers into bullets and works at Walmart and from the south.

 

Now I'm designing the last one's inverse.

 

I've been finding toons seem more fun to play with a bit of a backstory that's a little more original than billionaire turned superhero or Godlike being from another planet types newspapers and wears glasses.