New Year, New Characters

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New Year, New Characters

Postby Will Stanton » Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:15 am

So, I'm down to one character at the moment, and I'd like to bump that up one or two for 2018. However, I've been very bad, in recent years, about accuratley guessing what sorts of characters people actually want to play with.

On a collaborative board, no es bueno.

So, with that in mind, I thought I'd post a few character concepts I've been mulling over here -- just the quick basic sketches, with powers and personality, not the whole app or anything yet. Just to see which which, if any, catch people's attention and would be something they'd be interested playing with / have ideas for / would like to flesh out. Testing the waters, as it were. If none of them catch your eye, that's fine! If four of them do, great! I'm just looking for some feedback.


So, in no particular order...

1. Raven Bloodwynd
Power: Every evening, Raven Bloodwynd slips a blank piece of paper under her pillow. Every morning when she wakes up, there's an instruction written on that piece of paper, telling her something concrete to do the next day. These instructions can range from the very simple (have a banana muffin) to the very difficult (convince best friend to move to Spain), but all are listed in 15 words or less -- no complicated, step-by-step instructions. These instructions, if faithfully followed and dutifully carried out, lead to positive outcomes. Often these are small (hey! Got the last banana muffin!). On at least two occasions, however, it has saved her life. This is all true.

Personality: Raven believes that her power is a result of her occult magickal practices, and that they go well beyond what actually occurs. She reads palms, does tarot, balances chakras and obeys feng shui. While some of these hobbies have given her actual skills (i.e. identifying herbs), she has zero magical affinity. She will never have magical affinity, no matter how much she claims she's Ravenclaw (anyway, she's more of a Hufflepuff).

Possible Plot Hooks: Any other player could write the instructions -- a possible way to get others involved with the plot or get someone to do something that needs to be done for things to move alone. Possible connection to Sean and the other magical/mythological characters, though perhaps in a way the characters would not appreciate.



2. Doug "Lefty" Baker
Power: In place of his right arm -- lost in a shark attack while surfing out on Byron Bay -- Doug can summon a darkforce limb, with incredible strength, range and power. He does not, as of yet, have complete control over this -- it's too powerful for his mutant abilities to fully control, meaning it can sometimes seem to have a mind of it's own.

Personality: Doug's easy going and friendly, out to have a good time and enjoy life. His darkforce arm tends to get him into more trouble than it's worth, acting out subconscious impulses and desires, with less-than ideal results.

Possible Plot Hooks: I mean, Tosh and Bruce are an obvious fit. Nailah and any of the more 'adventury' characters would seem to go well with Doug, as well.



3. Katarina Karkov
Power: Katarina can turn her body to solid gold, giving her increased durability and strength. Yes, I'm aware gold is normally malleable. This is a comic book thing.

Personality: Katarina is Symkarian royalty -- a real life princess, who, with the most recent shifts in Symkarian politics, stands to inherit the throne upon her father's death. Symkaria is not a stable region of the world, and Katarina has been trained to be cautious and to defend herself from any attempts at assassination or kidnapping; she is the last in this particular bloodline at the moment. The last time Symkaria ran out of a bloodline, it plunged them into a very bloody civil war, so they'd prefer that to not happen this time. Katarina bristles some at the elevated treatment, wanting to live like common folk and be treated equally. She may not, however, have a fully grasp of what that means, and nearly two decades of being waited on hand and foot will have to leave a mark.

Possible Plot Hooks: There are several other rich and wealthy characters Katarina would be a good match for. In addition, it's an easy character to attach other characters to -- a servant or bodyguard from home, a regular person from Symkaria who perhaps is not a fan of royalty, someone hired by Latveria to incite discord into their neighboring country, etc.


4. River Newton
Power: River has large, white wings growing out of their back, which allow them to fly. They also emit a low-level psychic field, inducing anyone within X feet of them to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, though this effect can be fought off with practice and skill.

Personality: River's feet never quite touch the ground as they walk. Though they'd never put it so bluntly, they do believe they're above the petty squabbles and dilemmas that plague mankind. They're that kind of serene and calm and 'know-whats-best'-ism that can really drive you insane. They know what's best for you, and you'd be best off if you listened to them. Everyone would be better off if they listened to them.

Possible Plot Hooks: None come to mind immediately, but I suppose that's why I'm posting a thread about it.


5. Mick Richards
Power: By drawing a chalk outline on a wall, Mick can create a door. He can then either walk through that door, or connect it to a previously drawn door within X feet.

Personality: Mick's been slapped with referral orders, ASBOs, reparation orders, curfew orders, action plan orders -- you name it, he's probably been in the dock for it at one point another, getting into and out of trouble since he was 13. His power lines up really well with breaking and entering, trespassing and shoplifting, with a healthy dose of vandalism and "urban exploration" mixed in. Mick's not exactly reformed, either, though the hope is that the supervision of the university will help him straighten up and fly right -- you don't get off so easily when you're no longer tried as a juvenile.

Possible Plot Hooks: None come to mind immediately, but I suppose that's why I'm posting a thread about it.
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Will Stanton
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Ashlie Minamida » Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:40 pm

Here's my thoughts, ordered from "Most interested in" to "Least"

Katarina Karkov


Simple, straight-forward power, which is fine because the backstory is obviously the real meat and just full of potential plots from street-level to political. But the main reason she takes the top spot for me is because I've had a character/power idea bouncing around in my head for a while that would be perfect as the exasperated and put-upon bodyguard, trying to keep an uncooperative crown-princess safe. If I had to pick one, this would be it. It instantly made ideas pop into my head for both 'mundane' threads and larger plots on top of literally bordering an existing plot that's been slowly unfolding. Interest level: Makes me want to make a character!


Raven Bloodwynd


Shenanigans! The power is interesting (and less complicated than Nailah's, which is good, because I found Nailah's to require too much work), but it does require some input onto a blank canvass, which is both good and bad. Lots of potential but might have people struggle to come up with things to throw around. But some contrast to the emerging group of magical folks is a good thing and Ashlie would love to tell the magical people that if they want their practices to be taken seriously then they have to extent the same courtesy to Raven. Wear that witch-hat proudly!


Doug "Lefty" Baker


Anything that has a mind of it's own has a bunch of plot-hooks baked in. Unfortunately the things that immediately come to mind from my end are probably much too dark for what you're envisioning. Still, an adventuring buddy for Nailah once she gets over her funk (or maybe helping her out of it to begin with) could be fun.


River Newton


I love the visual, the power has potential for a lot of dramatic, embarrassing or funny moments. Mutants buying into their own mythology is always great (shocking opinion coming from me, I know), but ultimately River doesn't inspire me. They strike me as almost more of a background character, which doesn't jive with the angelic theme/self-importance.


Mick Richards


Delinquents are good, we need more of those. I could see Shari getting along with him and tapping into her street urchin aspect a bit more again would be neat, but that's about it from me here? The power has some potential for interesting effects with the right applications, which is good, but I'm just more interested in the ideas and potential from the characters higher up in the list.
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Basil Benson » Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:16 pm

I feel the need to point out that I have no particular thoughts on potential plots for any of these characters as I don't tend to make plots for any one character and when I do it takes a hot minute. I have to see what that character is realized into, not just on paper. Usually when I make a plot, it's literally for whoever stumbles into it.

Because of that I looked at these from a slightly different angle: if I were looking to make plots to involve people in, which character would I choose?

Based off that thought process, I would probably go with Raven.

From a widespread angle, she has the most potential for plots, be they open ended for anyone plots or more specific to individuals. It gives her lots of opportunities to be literally anywhere on campus and interact with literally any character.

From a more specific angle, I like the idea she thinks she's magic when she isn't which will clearly cause some skepticism among certain other characters (Sean, Ashlie, or Sam most obviously) about the source and potential validity of her instructions.

If you are looking to make more than one character then Katarina would be my secondary choice, but mostly because A: She has the most straightforward power which is the ones I usually go for. and B: Ashlie already has an idea for her.

She also has the British Royal Regiment (Basil and Shane) as potential peers in the art of 'learning normal people shit', and there's actually a parallel between her and Basil that isn't overly obvious yet that could make more of a social contact plot than a adventure one, but it's a thing there.
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Toshiro Narumi » Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:31 pm

In order of interest:

Doug: A natural friendship potential with Tosh given his affinity for surfer dudes, and also as a fellow mutant whose abilities have an independent streak. Darkforce always has plot options build in as well.

Katarina: For many of the same reasons already mentioned. Shane probably wouldn't like her princess-ness at first for entirely preconceived reasons and would experience character growth getting over it.

Raven: It hasn't come up, but part of Diego believes in all that fortune teller stuff. So he'd be easy to suck into hilarious witchy hijinks.

River: Not much of an opinion really. Walking drama bomb.

Mick: I didn't like your last delinquent. Though an actual bad boy would be a good contrast to Shane's rich boy rebel shtick.
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Colette Rosenhof » Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:08 am

This is kinda hard, because honestly I think that these character concepts and their powers are all pretty neat. In no particular order.

Katrina has a solid power (which can look really cool) and holds a lot of potential for character interaction and drama; two reasons I like River as well.

Raven has a really fun power, and working more mysticism into the school can always be fun given the whole "but magic isn't read / dude you shoot lasers from your eyes" type conversations. I can see a lot of potential for the power being used in plot or just social threads, but at the same time I can see that maybe it might not be smooth sailing as far as coming up with fun and unique uses for it all the time. That's the double-edged blade of a deus ex machina.

Doug - I really like the idea of an amputee character, we've had one or two characters with physical disabilities and it's an aspect I think can make for very interesting play. It also has a fun "body horror-esque" aspect of his darkforce limb acting without his control at times. Good for combat and for drama. And it can be fun to see "oh this is how his power would have manifested, but because of this event it went down this route again and became a phantom limb".

Mick - I like the trespassing / urban explorer aspect. I think there are some other characters who are into being sneaky / getting in and out of places. Is it only chalk that works? What if the surface doesn't accept chalk well? Of all of the characters this is the one I feel the weakest toward.

Deciding factor; which one is the hottest / has the biggest tiddybobbers?
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Tereza Rozanov » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:56 pm

After reading over them a few times, I have to go with Katarina as my first choice. There's a lot of potential plot to be mined in her backstory and the power is a solid one (har har) that's easy to deal with providing a good balance for the more complicated backstory.

As a second choice, I'd say Raven, mostly because she's the only other character that stood out to me. The power could be useful, but could be a hard one to come up with ideas for and I could see if getting frustrating if there was a dry spell where people weren't taking advantage of it.
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Sean Hall » Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:01 pm

Katarina would be my first choice. Solid power, interesting backstory that should make for fun interactions, plus a backstory that provides plenty of opportunities for plot stuff.
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Samantha McManus » Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:38 am

I agree with those that say that Raven's probably going to take some participation from other players in order to preserve the surprise of the messages and keep things interesting.

I could see her being a bit of a foil to the more genuinely magical characters, and that might be a bit comedic depending on how it's played.

Katarina fits the European, prestigious school character of play quite a bit, and given that Symkaria is where Silver Sable is from I could see some drama from the more mercenary segments of current plot.
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Re: New Year, New Characters

Postby Haley Crusek » Tue Jan 16, 2018 3:30 am

Doug, Katerina, and River in no particular order are my favorites.

Doug, I can see paling around with Tosh, obviously, and I'm sure Team Blonde could use an intern. Arm with a mind of its own sounds like a recipe for plenty of fun plots too--I love power trouble.

Katerina is great for possible political stuff, as others have mentioned, and nobles living among the commoners is fun.

River is great for Liar, Liar reenactments. Bring on the red-faced revelations!

I'm not uber fond of complete delinquents--and I can't really pinpoint why in words as I'm typing this up--so Mick's kinda not super interesting for me.
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