X-Men Game

[Wolfs]

@bobotron Then I would recommend trying the "See Comic Vine history" method, or whatever other site is preferred, with the ability to ignore certain things on a case-by-case basis if the WTFery of it is too absurd (for example). By this point, the info about most characters is out there to be found and all the app is is a way of rewriting the same stuff over and over again, just in a different way.

Keep the personality simple. Devise a few different, brief scenarios the player can pick one from to show a short "cutscene" portrayal of the character as part of the app, if needed.

Give players the freedom to just get out and play, and if staff determines someone is mishandling a character they can address that on an as-needed basis.

[Lotherio]

@the-tree-of-woe said in X-Men Game:

A thought I had was basically 'Secret Empire' (Ugh) ends so badly that nobody's sure that the United States is going to exist as a coherent entity past that point, so the X-Men go back to Utopia and create 'Nation X' but honestly Secret Empire is such a trashfire even I only sorta like that idea.

Or some shit happened, thanks to mutants/supers, there is no US or other large nations, x-sphere at Utopia maintains order there, the world at large is survival level play. Go from there, not year one or canon but something different? Instead of waiting for the next x-virus, invasion of aliens/gods/alien-gods, some other calamity, why not say it did happen?

[Bobotron]

@wolfs
I'm not saying things are needing to be per-issue basis; hell, I don't know enough about the detail of even my favorite characters to write something that covers 20+ years of comic history. I more mean 'a starting Year One, everyone just starting out' game is not what the thread seems to have a majority desire for.

Leaving out weird things and going 'yeah, this comic vine/wikipedia article is pretty accurate' and then filling in certain things is fine with me.

[Wolfs]

@bobotron Right. I think some of the comments were coming through quickly enough that I thought a YO thing might have been in play as a concept. If not, that's fine too.

[Shaggy]

@tempest said in X-Men Game:

What @Ghost said.

Also...

No. Alts.

Normally, I'm an alt person but I agree on a game this focused, you don't want somebody having multiple chars because there will inevitably be crossover. Mayyyyyyyybe two characters, just cause the itch is so common, but you'd need to show how the characters wouldn't cross the streams.

I am all in on the idea of the game though.

[surreality]

Would recommend 1 FC and 1 OC also as per suggestion elsethread; you could also offer 2 OCs and no FCs if you felt like it. Would be reasonable. ‘No more than two charbits; no more than one can be an FC’ essentially.

[bored]

I'm definitely interested in something with more of a narrow, defined scope, and I'd probably even be willing to help somewhat on staff side depending what the setup ends up actually being.

@zombiegenesis said in X-Men Game:

So the things I'm seeing seem to be the following...

1: Base it on the comics instead of the movies/tv shows (which is fine by me).
2: There is some debate on whether it should be X-only or more inclusive.
3: Should it just be the X-Men or also include other factions (The Brotherhood, the Hellfire Club, Etc.)
4: Continuity. Start fresh (Year 1/Ultimate) or pick a cutoff point or x-reality(Utopia, 90's X-Men, Age of Apocalypse)?

For me I'd want it based on the comics for sure. I'd be fine keeping it X-only but if we could find a way to fit other types in I would not be opposed to it. I'd also like to at least keep the door open for other groups like The Brotherhood or the HFC. As for continuity...I don't know. I'm not all that up on X-stuff post 90's/early 2000's but I'm not sure most people would enjoy a Year 1 style game so...

Anyway, these are the threads I'm picking up on. Anything else?

1: comics
2: X-only or X and appropriate Marvel X-adjacent (ie its probably fine to let someone play Spiderman, setting aside, the FF, Avengers-minus-Thor, etc, but there are things you want to avoid like the mystic and cosmic areas)
3: I think the other groups are good additions to improve on playable character rosters, but you probably want to organize your theme in a way that they can function as antiheros and not full villains
4: I fought about this in the other thread. It doesn't need to be year 1 but I vastly prefer a cold/clean start. If you want to work in a few iconic events for the sake of certain characters (like, you just can't tolerate Jean not being God for whatever reason), write them into your own timeline. People really underestimate how much 'just start at the end of this book in 2006' actually includes in terms of back continuity.

[Prototart]

For like 90 percent of chars there really isnt a giant ton of stuff you just like absolutely have to at all times remember

I mean for Colossus the points are idk something like

• was a villain for a little while
• died to cure he legacy virus
• got brought back to life by aliens
• cut off a alien's arm

I'm p sure nobody in this conversation gives any fucks for the ultra old school "you left out what happened in issue 179 of the Portuguese edition please redo your BG" approach

[Ghost]

I've been working on a list. God, there are a LOT of great characters in the X-universe.

I'm at about 19 "iconic" FCs that are core the comics and should probably best be left in the hands of people willing to run plot.

I'm currently looking at 113 "General Population" FCs.

That's 132 potential FC options, and they're not just old throwaway 70s mutants, either.

BRACE FOR SPAM
Iconic Tier (Leadership, whatever)
Angel/Archangel
Beast
Colossus
Cyclops
Emma Frost
Gambit
Summers, Hope
Iceman
Kitty Pryde
Magneto
Marvel Girl
Mystique
Nightcrawler
Professor X
Psylocke
Rogue
Sabretooth
Storm
Wolverine

General Population
Anole
Arclight
Armor
Aurora
Avalanche
Banshee
Beak
Berserker
Bishop
Black Tom
Blindfold
Bling
Blink
Blob
Blockbuster
Boom Boom
Cable
Callisto
Cannonball
Chamber
Changeling
Cheney, Lila
Chimera
Cloak
Collins, Rusty
Cortez, Amma-Marie
Cortez, Fabian
Cuckoo, Celeste
Cuckoo, Esme
Cuckoo, Irma (Mindee)
Cuckoo, Phoebe
Cuckoo, Sophie
Cypher
Dagger
Daken
Dark Beast
Dazzler
Domino
Dr. Nemesis
Dust
Elixir
Fantomex
Feral
Firestar
Forge
Frenzy
Harpoon
Havok
Hellion
Husk
Icarus
Indra
Jubilee
Juggernaut???
Karma
Lady Mastermind
Lifeguard
Loa
Longshot
M
Madrox, Jamie
Maggot
Magik
Magma
Mammomax
Marrow
Match
Mercury
Mimic
Moonstar
Namor
Nocturne
Northstar
Onyx
Penance/Speedball
Pixie
Polaris
Prism
Prodigy
Pyro
Quicksilver
Reyes, Cecelia
Rictor
Rockslide
Sabra
Sage
Scalp Hunter
Scarlet Witch
Shaw, Sebastian
Siryn
Skids
Songbird
Speed
Strong Guy
Summers, Rachel
Sunfire
Surge
Tempus
Vertigo
Voght, Amelia
Wallflower
Warpath
Wiccan
Wind Dancer
Wisdom, Pete
Wither
Wolf Cub
Wyngarde, Martinique
X-23
Yukio

[Tempest]

That's actually a really good list.

I'd 10000000% bump Magik and Wanda to Iconic tier though, purely based on how sought after they are on MU. They're easily among the most popular female FCs.

Hope (edit oops) just needs to be removed from everything ever. She's a dumpster snowflake.

[Shaggy]

@ghost That's a great list. And the narrower focus means that characters that would be seen as tertiary or insignificant on a widescreen game could instead get a chance to be meaningful contributors and really stand out. And, yeah, they'd have way less baggage to carry in terms of continuity.

[Ghost]

Right right, I mean there could be some bumping around.

Take Juggernaut for example. He's not a mutant, but he's iconic to being a part of the Erik Lensherr pain train. So allow it? Honorary family? It'd be up to staff to decide, but I'd personally lean towards yes.

[Prototart]

Xavier isn't really involved with Utopia unless somebody really wants him to be around, the place is p much run by a council that's I think Dr Nemesis, Cyclops, Emma, Namor and Magneto

Cyclops is I guess "president" but everything doesn't fall to shit just cus of one person the way it tends to on School games

Magik probably belongs on the iconic list both because she's weirdly way more popular than I remember and because people apparently don't do just a piss poor job at her but, like, an actively terrifying job at her

[scourge]

There's a couple characters I'd definitely knock off that list for an X-focused game. Namely Speed and Wiccan (They're more Avengers tied any X) and Speedball (Not tied to any X-men stuff and not a mutant)

[Prototart]

Yeah Hope should not be playable

[scourge]

@prototart I'd stretch it a little farther an just do away with Hope and her entire 'Five Lights' deal.

[Tempest]

Now, on to important matters. How shall we punish @Ghost for shamelessly inflating his numbers by counting each Cuckoo individually.

[Prototart]

If going with the "Hope gets the Phoenix for a second and says yes more Mutants" thing she's, like, accomplished her Mutant messiah role and can just be an NPC that's never really brought up and if somebody wants to do one of the lights they're just normal Mutants whose powers kicked up in shit ways

Edit - yeah I've always seen the Cuckoos played as one char

[Ghost]

BRACE FOR SPAM
Iconic Tier (Leadership, whatever)
Angel/Archangel
Beast
Colossus
Cyclops
Emma Frost
Gambit
Scarlet Witch
Iceman
Kitty Pryde
Magneto
Marvel Girl
Mystique
Nightcrawler
Professor X
Psylocke
Rogue
Sabretooth
Storm
Wolverine
Magik

General Population
Anole
Arclight
Armor
Aurora
Avalanche
Banshee
Beak
Berserker
Bishop
Black Tom
Blindfold
Bling
Blink
Blob
Blockbuster
Boom Boom
Cable
Callisto
Cannonball
Chamber
Changeling
Cheney, Lila
Chimera
Cloak
Collins, Rusty
Cortez, Amma-Marie
Cortez, Fabian
Cuckoo, Celeste
Cuckoo, Esme
Cuckoo, Irma (Mindee)
Cuckoo, Phoebe
Cuckoo, Sophie
Cypher
Dagger
Daken
Dark Beast
Dazzler
Domino
Dr. Nemesis
Dust
Elixir
Fantomex
Feral
Firestar
Forge
Frenzy
Harpoon
Havok
Hellion
Husk
Icarus
Indra
Jubilee
Juggernaut???
Karma
Lady Mastermind
Lifeguard
Loa
Longshot
M
Madrox, Jamie
Maggot
Magma
Mammomax
Marrow
Match
Mercury
Mimic
Moonstar
Namor
Nocturne
Northstar
Onyx
Pixie
Polaris
Prism
Prodigy
Pyro
Quicksilver
Reyes, Cecelia
Rictor
Rockslide
Sabra
Sage
Scalp Hunter
Shaw, Sebastian
Siryn
Skids
Songbird
Speed
Strong Guy
Summers, Rachel
Sunfire
Surge
Tempus
Vertigo
Voght, Amelia
Wallflower
Warpath
Wiccan
Wind Dancer
Wisdom, Pete
Wither
Wolf Cub
Wyngarde, Martinique
X-23
Yukio

I will note that I think that Speed and Wiccan are an important addition for 2 reasons.

1. They are family to Wanda and Quicksilver, and are mutants
2. Wiccan is an iconic gay character who was part of winning awards for depiction of positive LGBTQ role models in comics, and I think that'd be great for characters who want to roleplay him.

As for the Cuckoos, I was gonna list them as 1 (worth 5), but again that'd definitely be a staff conversation. Allow 5 players to play 5 cuckoos? 1 to play 5? Keep as NPCs? (Though may be a lot of fun for a group app)

EDIT: I mean, there's only so many iconic LGBTQ characters in the comics, and I think it would be nice to give them a home.

[Ghost]

Regardless, the point that I'm trying to make is that there are a LOT of great FCs that aren't some kind of weird 70s fringe D-list character to choose from, and many of these characters on this list are tangled up together with years of character history, faction alignments, and would all technically be welcome in Utopia.