A Modest Proposal for more X-Men Action

[Dragon]

I know there are some RPers who are trying to get new X-Men characters going and have been frustrated by the lack of action. Meanwhile, we've had several ideas for vast, epic stories fall by the wayside, mainly because they've ground to a halt under their own inertia. As compelling as Cullen's and the Brotherhood are, they both require a certain administrative presence to keep them going. Cullen's needs teachers, the Brotherhood needs recruiters and masterminds. Right now, we don't have enough interested RPers to populate the world we've created.

Besides, with a few exceptions, the best X-Men RPs haven't been the epic story arcs that have been so fun to imagine - they've been the everyday stories of mutants searching for a place in a hostile world, making friends and enemies, trying to make it as a vigilante superhero or criminal, or just trying to live their lives in peace.

So I've got an idea for a setting that should be more flexible. Rather than placing our stories in a school for mutants, which is, by necessity, very structured and hierarchical, how about a private safehouse for mutants who don't have anywhere else to go - just an old house in a poor district owned by one or two adult mutants trying to make a difference.

The residents could be orphans, runaways, boarded students, anything... they still go to school on their own, they may have their own jobs, their own activities away from the house... they may come and go as they please, and rent is worked out individually, whatever each resident can pay. There's no real power structure, and they don't really go on missions, though, in order to protect their own, they could band up as a sort of gang.

I'm thinking a good setting would be Los Angeles. It's on the west coast, far away from Cullen's, there's an extensive gang presence, and the socioeconomic barriers are huge. Meanwhile, we've got a whole huge city to play in as well as the coast, the desert, and the Sierras... In a way, it could be Grand Theft Auto: X-Men.

Villains could appear as gang members, prejudiced cops, or members of the Brotherhood (since they are global), and there's no reason there can't be conflicts among residents, either.

Cullen's and all the characters involved there still exist; this is not a reset of any kind. If you've got a Cullen's student or teacher and want to move them to the LA safehouse, as long as you can explain it IC, it's kosher.

Any takers?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I am interested in playing the house owner. dibs dibs dibs!

[Dasquian Belargic]

*see's the thread title and panics*

Oh thank god you aren't proposing we eat baby mutants.

Grand Theft Auto: X-Men.. I like it. I can imagine Fade being involved in this.

[Rossos Atrapes]

*see's the thread title and panics*

Oh thank god you aren't proposing we eat baby mutants.

Grand Theft Auto: X-Men.. I like it. I can imagine Fade being involved in this.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It took me a second to remember "A Modest Proposal". I think I woke up my room-mate laughing. I think I PMed Dragon about kick-starting a mutant character. This could work, actually, for him either way; Cullen's or Los Angeles.

[Dragon]

Someone has read her Swift.

I may be a co-owner with LD. There doesn't have to be a whole lot of authority, but there should be a little. Dragon is definitely too entrenched at Cullen's to make the switch, but I'll come up with something.

EDIT: Also, you don't have to live at the safehouse to be involved. You could be a kid from the suburbs who sneaks off there to hang out, or a business tycoon with an interest in a gathering of mutants... sky's the limit! The only real limitation is that if we have twenty or thirty people living there, it starts to stretch credibility...

[Kelly Perris]

I do believe I've got something for this.

[Dragon]

Incidentally, I was thinking something like a ten-bedroom house. Holly and I talked it over, and if we've got two caretakers, that leaves eight for boarders, probably bunks in each room, so up to sixteen before we start putting people on the couch or in sleeping bags in the kitchen.

Crowded, yes, but most of the characters aren't going to be in the house all day.

As for the look of the place, we were thinking something like this (plus or minus a few scorchmarks/craters from powers gone awry):

[Droo]

I think this idea is right on the money in terms of what the mutant-roleplaying community needs: it's gritty, toned down, and close-to-the-bone storytelling. I'm all for this.

[Boulder]

Sounds good to me. For anyone that may not be aware of some of the things going on, Feral just recruited Boulder in one of the threads, and it seems that they are now bent on trying to take over a small port city on the east coast.

Another possibility of a California based group of mutants would be something like a "west vs east". I guess an expanded version of current gang wars, but with mutants.

[Anna Fernandez]

Here I am! I like my house... just have to set out some ground rules

[Dasquian Belargic]

Nice house. Looks much more... well cared for than I'd imagined it.

[Flux]

*GASP!* Is this a...reset?

[Dasquian Belargic]

A reset?

Cullen's and all the characters involved there still exist; this is not a reset of any kind.

No :mneh

[Flux]

I was picking. Do wish I'd caught that line though. XD

[Dragon]

Nice house. Looks much more... well cared for than I'd imagined it.

That's just to give you the basic idea. It probably would be pretty run-down, but the caretakers are going to be concerned that it stays safe.

[Ash Addams]

*disintegrates the front door*

...oops.

[Anna Fernandez]

Mio dios! The door!

[Ben Merasska]

Erm, wouldn't it be Dios mio? But! But you can say it anyway you want! I wasn't correcting you.

[Carlos Calaveras]

A ciencia cierta, hombre

[Anna Fernandez]

psh whatever, I'm not spanish i just play one on tv