Welcome to the Caped Crusades RPG!
Hardly a day goes by in the CC universe when some villain isn't robbing a bank, holding hostages, or trying to overthrow a government for the sake of their own bank account.
Of course - that's where the Caped Crusaders come in. Characters well known to the world - brightly costumed, masked heroes and heroines whose sole duty is to the betterment of mankind.
Or is it? Why do they wear masks? What do they have to hide?
What super-villain plot might be uncovered by a mutant, psychic or detective?
YOU decide those things. The Caped Crusades is a fully interactive group-based rpg in Yahoo Groups. It is set largely in the DC comics universe, however any character type appropriate for the theme of the game will be welcomed.
GAME PLAY and RULES
The first item to address is a set of hard-and-fast rules that ALL players must adhere to. A couple screw ups can be forgiven but consistantly bending or breaking any of the rules may result in moderation. Purposeful or malicious misuse of the group for any purpose other than playing our RPG will result in immediate banning or moderation.
1 - Please post in THIRD PERSON, PAST TENSE. Please use full normal "book writing" techniques. This is not a mud, moo, mush or other such online programming disaster waiting to happen. Use "quotation marks" when speaking aloud; 'single quotes' when thinking or quoting within a spoken statement; *, {, [ or whatever other notation for whatever other communicative speech (telepathy, animal-think, etc) that the character has at their disposal. Post full sentences, using correct spelling. PLEASE remember to put paragraphs separately - use that "enter" key after each person is done speaking. That's how books are written, that is how the game will be viewed.
1A - Please do not post for other people unless you have their specific approval to do so. A minor "autoplay" might turn into a major mistake in interpretation, especially when concerning unique player-made characters. Autoing any other npc or hero who is not already claimed by someone is okay - until it goes on too long and a sponsorship for that hero should be applied for.
2 - Characters must be approved prior to playing. More about characters later. Those who are playing original characters do not have to answer to a rigorous 'q-and-a' phase - but anyone wishing to portray a copyrighted existing DC, Marvel or other universe character should be prepared to know *everything* there is to know about that character - and be willing to give them up if they are not played within the expected boundaries of the character. (ie: Batman would never use a gun. Superman does not kill. Wonder Woman does not flirt with men. The Flash DOES flirt with Women of all types, sizes and flavors. :) ) There is currently a limit of THREE characters per player. Only ONE of those characters may be a copyrighted character from any universe.
3 - The group board will only be used for RPG purposes. No spam, messages for personal reasons, or advertisements for other groups of any kind may be posted in the main email board. Links may be put up, but only if relevant to our game or like games. All posts with out of character messages should have a subject line reading OOC somewhere in it! Please change the subject line of each post if it's necessary, and please don't forget to remove whatever extra text is below your relevant text. No posts should be over 11 k on their own (ie: one single lengthy post), nor should they be only one line long with a lot of extra text below it from the prior posts. If on "Daily Digest" format, PLEASE respond individually and *always* remove any other text, and *always* remember to change the subject line - no one knows what happened in Digest 210 do they?
4 - This is a SUPER HERO board. It is *not* a "Smallville", "Lois and Clark" "Birds of Prey" or other such non-superheroic "set in the world of" game. It is a HIGH action, intrigue and plot driven story that MUST involve more than one or two characters in the long run. Posting to this board indicates that you as a player are willing to allow everyone their chance for their characters to shine, and *depends* on your ability to allow everyone to cooperate. Out of character posts may be taken off the board and sent privately to discuss any secondary plots or hash out information to be shared only with one or two characters - so the whole board doesn't know what your villain is planning!
5 - Your character is expected to perform WITH other characters - but not all the time, and they are not ever required to participate in EVERY thread. Violating space and time rules (having your character in two discussions on separate sides of the world or even city) is frowned upon. Not everyone needs to be everywhere. Not every player - nor their characters - need to be involved in every single plotline or event. Please don't think it's necessary to do so just because "your" character "should" know what's going on. They might not. Since each character may have different strengths and weaknesses, they might be depended on for one mission, and left out the next. Their down time is important - but not so important that everyone needs a detailed rundown of how they brushed their teeth, called their mom, and picked up the newspaper in the morning. Unless of course, they saw in that paper that their comrades were in dire straits and they were suddenly a first-stringer again! No one character should ever overshadow another - unless they are *your own* pair of characters. Please try to keep up with posting *with* other people's characters, instead of with your *own* characters.
Character Specific Rules
Characters from the DC universe will take priority over other universes, since this ostensibly takes place in their world. Gotham City, Central City, Metropolis and other such DC universe locales should be the concentration of where the action takes place. However, any good well-thought-out character will be accepted as long as they can be played adequately.
DC universe mainstream includes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman, HawkWoman (or girl), Impulse, Robin, Nightwing, Raven, Starfire, (etc from Teen Titans/Titans I don't remember all their names), Batgirl, Oracle (Babs), Huntress, Catwoman, (etc from Batman), Lois Lane (though she is not a hero and will only be considered as backup material, along with other non-heroic level characters from any book - ie, Jim Gordon, Jimmy Olson, etc), Lobo, Saturn Girl, Chameleon, Brainiac 5, Lightning Lad (etc from Legion - but you must explain why they are in a century 1000 years before their birth!).
DC universe Vertigo characters such as Hellblazer, Sandman and others are not appropriate for this game, however they might make appearances with the right coaxing.
DC / Wildstorm universe - formerly from Image comics: Gen 13, WildCats (either group), Authority (mmmmm, authority...) or Stormwatch, Danger Girl(?), Team Seven, etc.
Image comics universe - I'm only fond of very few of these superheroes but again, if you know the character will add something to this universe, feel free to bring them in: Savage Dragon, Shadowhawk, Spawn (though I prefer not to have this character in this game - same reason for Vertigo characters), The Powers characters (they might not fit, but I love Powers), etc.
Marvel Universe characters - these "mutants" are not considered so vile as they are in the DCu, so they might like staying here a lot. Spider Man, the Fantastic Four, X Men, Avengers, etc.
Dark Horse Universe characters - some of these are really cool to have around, but they're generally not as 'super' so much as 'dangerous': Marv from Sin City would be... reallllly bad to have around... But Hellboy on the other hand might be VERY cool. Aliens? Predators? Terminators? I prefer NOT but they have in fact all crossed over into the DCU at one point or another. Crazy licensing.
CrossGen Universe/Code Six Universe - these are relative newcomers to the comic worlds, and have *very* specific backgrounds. Please don't attempt those unless you're an avid Crossgen reader. Those from Sigil, Negation (love negation!), First, Crossovers (lol), and perhaps Way of the Rat might be welcome. Others might be a bit harder.
Other Comic book universes - there are a few left over but they're not going to be very easily understood by folks unless they are *really* stock types. Furry universes have their share of characters - they WILL be accepted. Slice of life universes can be left at home where they belong... (Not that I don't love Strangers in Paradise - but unless there's a full agreement by everyone to take on that kind of thing, they're not coming into my game.)
When sponsoring a character from one of these universes, please remember to know them well, before bothering to ask. There might be some kind of response they would have if given a situation that isn't portrayed right, or others might squawk about. It's fine to mention them in passing or use them as faintly important NPC's, but if you want to actually be PLAYING them, they must meet the standards of "reading a comic about this character".
When creating a unique character, anything goes - just please remember some basic generation rules...
1 - No "godlings". Immortality is okay, but only in so far as "they can be hurt but will heal" or "they might be killed by a gunshot but they won't age any more". Rapid healing is okay but not so far as to interrupt the flow of game play. Absolutely no "completely superior" characters. They must have some weakness. Superman not only has his kryptonite, but he is also *still vulnerable to being hurt* by extremely powerful enemies. He also has a dependant NPC - Lois and others he knows, only a few of whom know his ID.
2 - Have a Secret ID or not? Is it important that this character maintain their anonymity or be in the public spotlight for their deeds? Each has a distinct set of plusses and minuses! But no one just "is" a hero without acknowledging their ID in some way. Also - have a cool name? Or not?
3 - Characters should be UNRELATED to any other published comic book characters, unless they have *very* complete and sensible reasons for doing so. Since this takes place *in the present-day* of the DCU, no one has kids yet. Not a one. Batman does *not* have a long-lost brother - we went over this with Bane not too long ago in the comics. Yet, there are tons of Amazons to play, Green Lanterns abound in the universe out there, and who knows, Superman's home world might have had more than *one* sensibly brilliant scientist who sent their offspring out to safety... Otherwise, no one is going to surprise Bruce Wayne with a wedding band, etc.
4 - Characters who are inhuman in form must be responded to in kind. Aliens and shapeshifters, even animal-shaped characters, WILL be looked at as somewhat freakish. In the DCU this follows with "can I have your autograph? Are you saving that train car? Are you in the JLA?" rather than the Marvel universe's chants of "BURN THE MUTANT!!" :)
5 - If you wish to, please check out and use the format I have for characters. You don't have to, but I'll probably be putting up characters this way to keep track of them on the site. Otherwise please just look over the information I want ON that form, and email it to me.
View the current player characters!
