SETTING ENGAGEMENT

[metamods]

SETTING ENGAGEMENT

BLANKET PERMISSIONS

Players do not have to ask permission to thwart or cause villainy. Our assumption is that as this is a superhero game in a world where superpowered people have existed for decades, daily life is going to involve supervillains and general mayhem.

Examples of things that do not require permission or engagement requests.

You develop an NPC villain for a log! This villain doesn't cause any major damage or many casualties. Maybe they have a de-aging ray, they give people temporary amnesia, turn people temporarily into animals, etc. You are welcome to use these for temporary effects.

Your character steals anything up to 5000 dollars. You can assume that they got away with this, or if they were caught, the guild paid law enforcement to look the other way.

Your character uses their powers to heal or change another character or player created NPC. This is a superhero game after all. We expect you to be using your powers and testing them.

Your character invents a tiny teleporter that jumps between their house and their friends house. This technology exists and is normalized in this world. We encourage players to create their own systems like this.

You are welcome to have your characters interact with the game's NPCS at any time.

SETTING ENGAGEMENT

The Metaheroes setting is designed to be interacted with. Our approach to this is best compared to a tabletop roleplay system. Your character will take an action and the mod team will provide you with the outcome of that action.

You do not need to pre-plan these actions. You're free to approach us as they evolve in threads to ask the consequences of your characters actions. Some of these consequences will be immediate, and others will appear down the line. Some may be expanded into full blown player plots.

Your character kills someone. If they're a hero, are they reporting themselves to the authorities? The mod team needs to know how your character is handling the body.

Your character tries to use their powers to heal, harm, manipulate a Mod NPC.

You want your character to dismantle a major crime syndicate.

You want your character to develop a following / a cult / etc.

You want your character to steal everyone's left shoe.

You want your character to enter a pact with a God and become their champion.

You want your character to gain power and influence.

You want your character to learn the magic native to the setting.

A character or group of characters stage(s) participate in a conflict that destroys a city block. There may be fallout, fines, and a loss of public favor for this.

You want your character to open up a business.

A character or group of characters engage with a mod-run NPC character, guild, or business. The NPCs will react accordingly and their opinion of your character will change.

A character uses a baby ray on important political figures to take over the tri-state area. You need to inform the mods to find out whether or not you're successful or if you're thwarted by Perry the Platypus.

<b>Character Name:</b> The names of characters involved <b>Character Alignment</b>:</b> Their affiliation <b>Summary of Actions Taken</b>: What has your character done / what do you want them to do? <B>OOC Goals & Intended Outcome:</b> Do you have a specific goal in mind? If you just want to see what happens please leave this blank.

Please note that these engagements are developed as ongoing storylines. We gently discourage players to rush to a conclusion as they're designed to be evolving based on character actions. We'd like to know how your characters are reacting, what actions they're taking, etc. We encourage reporting back to us with any developments or changes your characters are making to their approach, we will adjust the plot and add new elements accordingly.

To better keep track of these engagements, please reply to the corresponding monthly top level. You can continue to reply to that comment thread if your plot extends out from the month it begins in. Or you can begin a new one and link to the previous one if it helps you better track your character's specific movements through the months.

EVENT FOLLOW UP & SETTING INVESTIGATION

There are a number of mysteries for players to solve. Most events have an investigative element that requires player collaboration to uncover.

An example of some mysteries currently unsolved are:

What really happened to Starstruck?
Who was the person who hacked the Expo exhibits?
What caused the first confluence?
Who and what brought you all here?
What exactly are the flowers in Sunset Falls? Are they here to stay?

<b>Character Name:</b> The names of characters involved <b>Character Alignment</b>:</b> Their affiliations <b>What are they investigating?</b> <b>What will be their investigation style?</b> <B>OOC Goals & Intended Outcome:</b> Do you have a specific goal in mind? If you just want to see what happens please leave this blank.

To ensure that this is visible to all players and isn't lost in the shuffle, there is a dedicated toplevel to investigations HERE. Please reply to this comment.

MOD PERMISSION REQUESTS

Actions that will significantly affect or impact the game must be run by the mod team before being introduced into play.

These would be things that alter the shared setting of the game environment in a way that cannot be easily ignored.

For this, we ask players to visit the PLAYER PLOT & Mod Permission page. Below is an example of actions that go beyond consequence reporting or investigation. You can use this page to develop a plot in this direction, but these actions cannot be taken until approval has been given.

A character is killed and not revived two hours after their death. Characters will still revive after this happens. However, this must be brought to the mod team.

Your character installs surveillance equipment around town that would allow them to spy on NPCs or player characters. This would require a permissions post and a post on the OOC comm to notify players that it has occurred.

Your character destroys established areas of the setting. Guild HQs, established landmarks, or large parts of the cities.

Your character causes mass casualties.

Your character enters an agreement with a God / Demon for power (outside of an event).

Your character kills an Mod Created NPC.

Your character kills and becomes a God.

Your character breaks Guild Law.

Your character tries to go to the Underworld.

Your character attempts to destabilize the guilds or government.

These actions are still doable! However, as they may greatly impact the setting and may count as mini events, we ask players submit them on the Player Plot page.

---

NETWORK | LOGS | OOC | MEMES

PREMISE | SETTING | GUILDS | FAQ | RULES
TAKEN | CALENDAR | ENGAGEMENT | NPC ENGAGEMENT
RESERVES | APPLICATION | MOD CONTACT | PLAYER PLOTS
HIATUS & DROP | CANON & POWER UPDATES

Comments

QUESTIONS & GUIDANCE

[metamods]

If you have an action in mind, or a goal you want to accomplish that seams out of reach or you aren't certain of the scope of a plot, here's where to ask us questions.

Examples:

I want my character to start their own team, what can I expect from that?

What would happen if my character quit their guild right now?

What would happen if I stole everyone's left shoe?

I want my character to be mayor of Sunset Falls, is this possible? How do I go about doing that?

Example Question

[metamods]

I want my character to be Mayor of Sunset Falls. Is this actually possible? What would need to happen?

Additional or Deeper Powers ICly?

[portolan]

Hi mods!

If I want Balthier to develop additional applications for his powers, do I need approval for that (example: learning he can permanently attach an illusion to a piece of paper to make it Doctor Who psychic paper and make people see whatever credentials he needs them to; developing illusion powers deeper to be able to mess with people's mental perception such as making them believe they are somewhere else or planting false memories)

If I want Balthier to get a new power, can I just update my app + have an in game way he does that? (Ex: at a confluence, as a side effect of an event, something awakens it, etc.)?

Crime lord antics?

[robintohood]

Hi mods! I'm following up on this comment. Jason's now going to attempt to be a crime lord again as he feels he needs more resources to hunt and kill the Joker. I would like to work out the parameters and potential consequences.

To him, becoming a crime lord will also double as an attempt to control some of Central City's crime rate, just like what he tried to do in Gotham. One of his biggest rules as a crime lord is that no children should be involved in any capacity, be it as customers or otherwise. He would also not allow human trafficking of any kind. Canonically, he has no problems with killing his own people if he feels they're of no use to him anymore or if they break any of his rules. However, if that's too much, I'm willing to scale back to something like him just being very good at threats.

1) I would like to know more details about the two small gangs and Backbreakers. I'm also open to something else if there's a better approach!

2) Would it be possible for him to have a rotation of safehouses to live in instead of living in one location? It would be one of his ways to make it harder for people to track him.

3) What's the extent of the arsenal could he steal/buy from the underworld?

4) What's the extent of the surveillance equipment could he steal/buy from the underworld?

5) Would anything about this endeavor attract the attention of either guild?

I would like to use this IC endeavor as a way for him and his CRs (current and future) to play tug-of-war with his humanity versus his darker desires. There's certainly no shortage of people who'll want to stop Jason and try to steer him away from the darkness by appealing to his humanity.

My apologies if any of this is nebulous and scattered or should be redirected somewhere else. This would basically be another way to explore the dynamics in his CRs in a different angle and I would like to hash out IC logistics and possible consequences.

Influencer Shenanigans (so sorry for the tldr)

[rollstoseduce]

Hello, mods! You've told me that influencer falls under the "high publicity career track" umbrella, so here I am checking in with the beginning of Jaskier's career. Before I start tldring, allow me to clarify this is going to start at the end of the month, once Jaskier's time in the hotel is over. That means is post-event, in case the Alliance's reaction to his ideas may change accordingly.

So! Jaskier has been using his two months in the hotel to the max. The credit card was burned with shopping for clothes, jewelry, fine dining, and most importantly, instruments. Including a fucking piano. He's discovered his powers, which caused minor shenanigans in karaoke bars as you saw in the comment I submitted to Rue, and read as much as possible about the music scene and the guilds. This bard now has a plan! He will do the two identity thing (which luckily I had already decided before today's news haha) and he wants to join the Alliance if they agree to his limits. Both these things are influencer-related so let's break them down.

Civilian: Jaskier the musician
He'll do gigs in local bars, and he's already opened a youtube channel. He'll upload simple videos of him playing covers and his own songs, but his main attraction is streams, which he's already tried a couple of times. Once a week, he'll go live and ask people to make requests, wanting to prove there is no song under the sun he doesn't know. Obviously he is using his power for this, but he'll play it off as being very knowledgable about music - I think this gimmick could give him a good amount of views because the internet will take the challenge of trying to prove him wrong. While Jaskier will stick to this being his civilian identity, he'll sometimes tease the audience about the idea of powers, trying to play a is he or isn't he game to keep discussion and rumors going. This is part of him wanting to normalize metas and improve their reputation, more of that below. Jaskier posts quite a bit on Instagram, and it's not hard to get him to argue with people on Twitter.

Sidekick: The Sandpiper
Jaskier does want to join the Alliance, but only if they aren't too annoying about it - he'll show up at headquarters and discuss his ideas before signing up for good to avoid surprises. The goal is to improve metas' reputations. To achieve that, his main idea is to be The Sandpiper, a sidekick for heroes, since all his spells are for support. He'll have a second youtube channel where he uploads his adventures to show everyone how metas save people, maybe include a little interview at the end. He knows how to manipulate information so if something goes wrong, welp - in the early days, he won't upload the video at all, later on, once he learns to edit he'll edit accordingly (one idea for the future is asking for a drone or a spell that makes the camera follow him around). The Alliance can have his phone number and call him when a hero is in action so he can come over to boost them up. When I make his youtube page, I'll include his work being handwaved with a bunch of NPC heroes to get him going, but of course, I'll add threads with other players as they happen. This channel will also have songs written about these adventures and praising metas (Jaskier will encourage everyone to make covers), and a video where he introduces the spell that allows him to summon a bird illusion to send messages - people can hire the bird to surprise loved ones with love songs or happy birthdays, or send "you suck" messages to their enemies. Because the Alliance pays for heroing and Jaskier also has his civilian youtube channel, those two things should allow him to rent his own place and live comfortably, therefore Jaskier will donate all the earnings of his hero channel to charity. He'll do that thing on youtube where you click on a video and you have the charity information next to it, you guys familiar with that? Well, every video on this channel will have it. To finish the "improve metas' reputation plan", there's the teasing I mentioned above, and sending tons of nice stories to Rue to spread.

Now, what are the "limits" Jaskier wants to discuss with the guild? Here is the thing: Jaskier is an independent man that lives in the moment. He's willing to help, but he doesn't want to be the guild's puppet, and he definitely doesn't want a manager that controls his schedule and drags him around (basically, the answer Hibiki got haha). He wants to do his own thing - so the Alliance may call him one morning and tell him "hey we have a free spot on this tv show today" and Jaskier may accept to go, but he doesn't want it to be an obligation and it must work with his own schedule (sometimes you wake up with a hangover and two other people in bed and that requires action, okay?). Basically, he wants to be guild-aligned but still a freelancer that can say no if he doesn't feel like taking a job that day or dislikes the host/reporter. He also wants the freedom to record with members of the society and the unaligned, and to speak shit about the government if he ever sees a reason to. If the Alliance agrees to this, he'll gladly join and print a bunch of business cards that the guild can give out to their heroes.

In summary~

1) Is everything I described above approved? If you need me to answer more questions about how the discussion between Jaskier and the Alliance went before deciding, let me know.

2) If everything is alright, let me know how this will affect his life from now on. He'll be living in Sunset Falls, if that's important, and his castmate Yennefer will, later on, come live with him. I don't know if she'll be with a guild or unaligned, but let me know if this is something I need to update you on because of reputation issues.

3) A plan for the future is to create player plots that are charity events centered around metas, from casino nights to carwash. How long should I wait for Jaskier to be important enough to start working on that? Aka, when should I check in again.

4) As you've already seen, Jaskier submitted a bunch of things to Rue, and he'll continue to do so in the future. Now, is Rue an NPC avalaible for player plots? If so, how should I plan such a thing?

Sorry again for the tldr and thank you for all your work and the chances for players to fool around with the setting!

Re: QUESTIONS & GUIDANCE

[mostdangerousbird]

I was told there are no stupid questions, so I’m here with a few things that I’ve been stalled on ideas for for a long time. I don’t know if these are baked enough as ideas to go on the plotting posts or NPC engagement or what.

1) I want to tie in the kid who I mentioned was missing in one of Tim’s logs in the summer and their disappearance was the. somewhat used by the Joker to lure Tim into a trap to the Rue Moore rumour about disappearances from a few months ago. Tim would’ve been looking into those, but I’ve been drawing a blank for how big or small or tangled it would need to be. I don’t have the time to run an player plot, but would use this for a series of posts and logs. I’ve said that he checks in on spots where runaways gather, if that helps.

2) I’ve been saying for months Tim hates Fantastic. If he combs through Fantastic’s online presence, which he has done, would he find anything concrete to back up that initial disgust for him being Booster Gold x10? Not necessarily a crime, just - if he’s the Logan Paul, then he has some real questionable content. What is there to point at as evidence of poor moral fiber? Would he find anything on a more exhaustive background check? Due to his social media presence, I’m assuming Fantastic has the most information out there.

3) If I want Tim to hack his way or attempt to hack his way into a selection of local government agencies, including the Central City police, and hospitals, does that go on the plotting post? To clear, he’d identify if there was a way in and periodically check to see it’s still there. He wouldn’t clone the database at first or lock anyone out. Does it have be an exhaustive list? What’s the national government bureau that oversees the guilds?

[demigoth]

Hey again. There’s an ongoing slumber party going on for Dylan Brock, and a Ouija board made an appearance. If this continues along, there is a strong possibility that Nico will summon the dead and, as there’s no one in particular they’re looking for here, he’d be inclined to summon someone cool and famous, who might be able to answer something about why they’re here and what the confluences are.

As he’s not a huge researcher, he might go for Starstuck. Would this even be possible, and if so, what would be needed from me to do it?

[determinationtofist]

Hello! With the assurances that there are no stupid questions here... Hibiki has suddenly found herself with an influx of friends(?) from her world and she's decided to take on the ultimate goal of gathering a good chunk of the Symphocast into a single living situation... or at the very least, gather up her fellow gear-wielders. Guild housing is only four to a space, and in the first place, they'd all rather have their own private place anyways.

Would it be possible for Hibiki to find a safe private residence in Central City with at least five bedrooms? Assuming that all of the work as both a famous hero and famous singer has left her with more than enough in the way of funds to pull this off.

INVESTIGATION

[metamods]

To ensure that this information isn't lost, please reply to this comment when investigating any mysteries or elements of the game.

(frozen comment) Example Investigation

[metamods]

Character Name: Joe, Bob, Sam
Character Alignment: Unaffiliated / Alliance / Society
What are they investigating? What is up with the basement in Sunset Falls?
What will be their investigation style? All three of them are magic and so they'll be trying to use their powers to figure out what's going on there.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: They want to know if the power can be harnessed

(frozen comment) EXAMPLE Setting Engagement

[metamods]

To better keep track of player actions, we're going to be creating toplevels for each month. Please reply to these comment with your character's setting engagement actions.

(frozen comment) EXAMPLE ENGAGEMENT

[metamods]

Character Name: Bob The Builder
Character Alignment: Guardian Alliance
Summary: After the destruction of the last event Bob sees an opportunity to step up and seize power. He's been going around submitting contracts to major companies and wants to become the new construction powerhouse in town.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: I'd like him to fix it.

JULY 2022 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

Please reply to this comment with your character's setting engagement actions.

[portolan]

Hi mods,

These are follow up to fear event for Balthier I wanted just some general guidance on:

-If he looks into who murdered his boss and/or who gave the cauldron to the shop, will he find anything?
-Are there any guild consequences to him for the fear event happening, or is this pretty par for the course with accidental mishaps? Balthier is working on shoring up gaps in the system, but would the guild step in and offer resources/funds, or a punishment?
-Balthier accidentally got filmed using magic during the fear event and got outed as a meta. Can the guild do anything to help him pass this off as just fear manifestation, or is he pretty stuck being outed?

AUGUST 2022 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[robintohood]

Character Name: Jason Todd
Character Alignment: Unaffiliated
Summary of Actions Taken: Would it be possible for Jason to find an abandoned space (warehouse, abandoned gym, etc) in Central City and renovate it to be a private gym large enough to also practice some gymnastics?
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: Jason would initially want the space to be just his own but others in the BatFamily could quickly find out about it and also renovate it with him before they all use it. Certain friends of the BatFamily can also be involved depending on the circumstances.

tl;dr would it be possible to eventually develop a BatGym?

SEPTEMBER 2022 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

OCTOBER 2022 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

Starstruck/Guilds + Shop Follow Up Investigations

[portolan]

Character Name: Balthier, David, Peter, Otto, maybe others
Character Alignment: Balthier and Peter - Society, David and Otto - Alliance
What are they investigating? They are investigating what really happened to Starstruck and what the guilds may have been covering up, both with the expo event and now with the changes post the universe cracks incident.
What will be their investigation style? David and Peter will be using their techromancy skills. David will use use ability to read objects as applicable. Balthier will use his illusions and con skills to break in anywhere that may be useful for getting records, etc.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: Want to see what happens, what trouble they may get in, what they might be successful at or find. If I need to be more specific in what they do, let me know. My goal is to see what outcomes might be so we can thread the investigations.

Character Name: Balthier, David
Character Alignment: Society (B), Alliance (D)
What are they investigating? Balthier's murdered boss and the letter / things he found in the safe
What will be their investigation style? David will see if he can touch/read anything on the letters. They will also see if they can find any leads in Balthier's client list or other Society contacts who may have known the boss and other person more closely. Balthier would use his illusions and con skills to sneak in places or try to meet up with people and get information out of them if he felt it would be successful.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: Per above, my goal is to see what outcomes might be so we can thread the investigations.

NOVEMBER 2022 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[dothelokimotion]

Character Name: Loki Odinson
Character Alignment: Alliance
Summary of Actions Taken: Loki is going to run for mayor! His platform is increased spending for arts, infrastructure and education. He's going to cut funding to the police and military (if they exist) because he doesn't care for that and he wants to finance/start a magic institute at Sunset Falls for people who want to study magic properly.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: IDK GIVE ME SOMETHING FUNNY I'm fine if he wins or loses.

FEBRUARY 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

MARCH 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[reneger]

Character Name: Jason Todd reneger & Tony Stark voicelog + Kyle Rayner torchbearer for babysitting purposes
Character Alignment: Unaligned
Summary of Actions Taken: Tim suggested Jason take advantage of him and Other Jason having the same face to rob the D'Amicos, but Jason, being Jason Todd, has decided to take it a step further: he wants to rob the D'Amicos of everything they've got and also wreck their main money-hoarding base. He is not going in his hood to avoid identity confusion; other Jason can keep Red Hood. Kyle Rayner and Tony Stark are coming along to keep him from actually getting murdered and also to watch him get punched. A lot.
Tony has also volunteered to destroy the building once they're done robbing it, to prevent Jason from pulling out the C4.

OOC Goals & Intended Outcome:
Destroying the D'Amicos favorite home base(which would make them angry), distributing a good chunk of the stolen funds to charities benefiting underprivileged youth. Clearly he's now Robin Hood. There will not be any NPCs killed, although most will likely come out with some bruises, broken bones, and other injuries that are non-fatal.

APRIL 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[dothelokimotion]

Character Name: Loki Odinson
Character Alignment: Alliance
Summary of Actions Taken:
- Loki is going to try and form a pact with Isis, a goddess he once met as a child in Omnipotence City (and who instilled his love of snakes). He may also pay a visit to Eros because he's curious and not at all continually concerned about the state of his love life.
- Loki is going to pass some laws.
( 1 ) To end Daylight Saving Times
( 2 ) Thursday is now known as Lokiday
( 3 ) All dogs must wear bowties
( 4 ) Gangnam Style dancing is now banned.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: ALL GOOD, go wild mods.

MAY 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[levelshift]

Character Name: Donatello (purplexing), Leonardo (faceguy), Accelerator (levelshift)
Character Alignment: Donnie is unaligned (his alias for school, Othello von Ryan, is Society), Leo is Alliance, Accelerator is Society.
Summary of Actions Taken: These three are going to break into a Central City electronics recycling facility. Their aim isn't to steal any equipment or materials actively used by the facility itself, but to go through the donated electronics (the stuff that's going to get recycled anyways) and take a bunch of it for Donnie's reuse and future lab.

Accelerator will have reached out to the Society to get blueprints of the place, and when registering the crime with the guild he's only going to put his own name down. Donnie will be hacking into any electronic security the facility has so they don't set it off. Leo will be mapping out a route in and out based on the blueprints and will be leading the whole excursion.

OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: The ultimate goal is for Donnie to keep whatever they steal. We'd prefer the Alliance doesn't catch wind of this (especially Leo's involvement).

JUNE 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

Re: JUNE 2023 - Setting Engagement

[arach_kid]

Character Name: Pete Ross | arach_kid, Sleeper | solo_sleeper, and Peter Parker | nerdylilspidey
Character Alignment: Alliance, Unaligned, and Unaligned respectively
Summary of Actions Taken: Over the past month the group has been working on a way to recreate the immunity to the parasites that the symbiotes provide. Comparing the sample Pete received from Dylan, another from Sleeper, some blood samples taken from the infected, and samples from non-metas they've isolated a chemical that both the symbiotes and parasites produce that causes them to read as already infected to the parasites. Shortly after the housing announcement they'll synthesize it in a form that is mass producible and provide it to Mechanica.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: Aside from resolving the parasite problem and lifting the quarantine, it would be nice if they get public credit for it to help undermine Fantastic.

JULY 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[ingeniar]

Character Name: Tony Stark (ingeniar)
Character Alignment: Unaligned
Summary of Actions Taken: While stuck in Arcadia, Tony has been using his nanotech and little bits of tech from his suit to set some bugs and do some minor hacking to listen in on what's going on in Arcadia's systems. He'll plant the bugs in spaces where the guards congregate, hoping to overhear their conversations or orders, and will just be generally doing some low level sneaky things to try and figure out Fantastic's whole deal, as well as looking into Arcadia's true shape and size (those lower levels look mighty suspicious!).
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: Tony would like to find out how Arcadia was built and why, who the guards report to, and so on. Basically any scraps of information he can find and use. He figures Fantastic is involved with his (assumed) kidnapping from his reality and ultimately wants to find out as much as possible in case it's useful later on.

SEPTEMBER 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

OCTOBER 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

[robintohood]

Character Name: Jason Todd (DCAU version)
Character Alignment: The Society
Summary of Actions Taken: Jason wants to investigate the Blue Sabers. The D'Amicos' return is already keeping him busy, so having another emerging rival gang around could cause more problems for him. He wants to know more about them before deciding if he can poach some/all of the members or if he's better off taking up the Society's assignment.
OOC Goals & Intended Outcome: Open to anything! Surprise me.

NOVEMBER 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]

DECEMBER 2023 - Setting Engagement

[metamods]