Alpha Source-ery

Here's a thing (that might be really weird but also really interesting for a game setting)

Imagine if:
All of the supernatural stuff we see in the world isn't actually supernatural, but stuff from the future
werewolves as genespliced soldiers, vampires as victims of weaponized plagues, visions as results of hallucinogens and neo-psychotic drugs
and the reason they are here is because assholes from the future thought it would be fun to hop dimensions

the main reason i think this would work is primarily because any technology, if advanced enough, would seem like magic

A little late to be writing this, but i want to get it out before i forget anything:
Note: this is an amalgamation of a couple different things, including Far Cry 4 and a campaign i am currently in

Opening Cinematic: From the perspective of a small child, you are traveling in a caravan. Suddenly, you are stopped by soldiers. after a few moments, fighting breaks out and the caravan starts going up in flames. the intense pitched battle comes to a halt however when a female figure in a resplendent cloak appears before the soldiers. She shakes her head for a long moment, before turning to one of the soldiers, who is seemingly in charge. She is only a short distance from you, and you can hear the conversation clearly
'I...distinctly remember saying: Stop the caravan... Yes, that's what I said. STOP..the caravan; not..STRIKE the caravan. No, I am very particular with my words. Stop. Strike. STOP. StrIke. Do. Those. Words. Sound...Alike? Hmm? I'm sorry, what was that? speak up I can't quite hear you
"it got out of control"
'It got out of control?...I hate it when things get out of control'
And with that the woman grabs the man's head, cocks her head to align with his neck, and plunges her face into his flesh. Several wet crunches later, the man's head falls from his shoulders, and the woman drops the now-headless body to the ground without ceremony. She looks over the burning wreckage, seemingly lost in thought.

Suddenly, her eyes find you. A small curve is lent to her lips as she turns to the corpse on the ground. 'at least there is Some good news: you didn't utterly fuck it up'. She returns her eyes to you, and she steps forward. 'come here, little one' her hands, soft but surprisingly strong, grip you beneath the arms as she lifts you skyward. A radiant smile adorns her face, but it is beneath the mask of blood that covers most of her face. 'Shh,' she says, 'there there; no one is going to hurt you now. It is going to be okay'


Okay, not quite finished, but I think you get the gist
If you have ever played Far Cry 4, yeah, this cinematic is ripped almost directly from there, and there is a reason for that. In the campaign I am currently in, I play a druid queen character who also happens to be vampiric, and when I was watching some gameplay of FC4 I happened to think allowed what she would be like if she were more like Pagan Min (because, obviously, she isn't). So, of course, my brain being what it is, it created an AU of her and threw together this thing.

Basically, caravan got attacked, even though it wasn't supposed to. Queen Vampire steps in to stop the fighting. A small group of children (6-7 probably) are the only survivors, and the Queen and her primary guard take them in as their responsibility.
From there, I don't have a set plot.
I know that the queen loves small children. Not in a pedo way, but in the sense that she loves the innocence, the naivete, the pure thinking of small children who have yet to be corrupted by the world. Otherwise, she is incredibly harsh and ungodly powerful.

You play as one of the children who was rescued, and must navigate through the world the massacre has placed you in. Depending on whether you choose to play a small child or a teenager will have a dramatic influence on what happens to you and how (because, as you find out, the Queen is not so pleased by teenagers. Whenever no one else is looking, she glares at you, and you find yourself not wanting to be in the same room alone with her)
Thing is, either way, this game should be fucked up as all hell.

Anyway, that's my thing for tonight.
Buenas noches, mis amigos

Background for a game: guy has a habit of making copies of whatever keys are put in his hands, either because he loses them somewhere or somebody else does. So, when he took a job at a local government-run asylum, he does the same thing. This is just a character quirk, but it has significant influence on the story

Guy goes to work the late-night shift, and his girlfriend is coming home from school. In the middle of the night, she gets a call from her boyfriend asking her to bring the spare set in. She drives out there, only to find that some trigger has been tripped, the inmates are extremely agitated, and the entire place is in chaos. With no contact from her boyfriend, or any other member of the staff, for that matter, she has to use the keys and her wits to try and put the place back in order, and in the process solve the mystery as to what happened here

Interesting gameplay aspects include the fact that the inmates are, in fact, sick, and need to be helped, not killed. Using weapons to kill inmates will have a negative outcome on the game, due to moral disturbance, while taking the high road and merely restraining or coercing them back into their cells and locking them up will have a more positive outcome.

I also like this idea because here it is the girlfriend who has to save the guy, and may or may not be successful. She is meant to be a fairly deep character, strong-willed, smart- all the things that the majority of video game players seem to attribute primarily to male characters. The fact that it tries (yes tries- I’m not sure how this would end up playing out) throwing stereotypes right out a broken window really caught my attention, which honestly should be directed elsewhere

Suddenly remembers short (or long) encounter I wanted to run
not really certain what i wanted to to with this, but people get powers, and then we see how these people react to gaining said powers
     Keep in mind that these were supposed to be literally, completely normal people. just like, random people at a subway station or something
most of these powers were inspired by Code Geass, even if they don't quite match what Geass powers were like in the anime

Here are the ones I have so far, pros and cons included  (i think):

Geass- you can make anyone do anything you want them to. Once. Downside: after your first power expenditure on a person, you can never again use your power on that person. Ever.

telepathy- mind reading- you read everyone's mind, everything they are thinking at the time. Downside: you can't turn it off. If anyone is within screaming distance of you, you are constantly in their head. Maybe not bad with you and one person, but you are in the middle of a big city; there are thousands of people's thoughts in your head, at the same time, and unless you are the most balanced Buddhist monk in the world you are not going to block them out and just move through them

Force-field generation- decided against. disregard.

psychic shield- you cannot be affected by the powers of other users. Downside: this power is so strong, that effectively renders you a 'blank'in the world. Besides other power users, no one even registers your existence. People run into you, they have a moment of disorientation, and then go about their business. You yell something, it gets dismissed as wind or white noise. This is worse than invisibility- besides other power users, the world considers you a fucking ghost

supernatural beauty- much like worship inducement, except that here you have no control. with WI, you point, and that person worships you. With SB, nearly everyone is like that, all the time, making it impossible for you to go unnoticed, unfollowed, be left alone for event the smallest of things

Death sense- you can sense death coming, when someone is close, their act of dying, and whether or not someone IS dead. Names and lifespans. Downside- you cannot turn it off, and you are unable to stop them from dying.
Basically, with Death Sense, your view of the world becomes fixed. Humans are constantly in flux, and they can decide their own destinies. You however, in possessing this power, lose the ability to do so. if you see something happen, and try to change it, no matter how hard you try, that end will come about. You know an I-beam is going to fall and hit someone? your movement is the butterfly wing that blows across the world, circles back to the crane, knocks it off-balance, causes it to drop the I-beam, and hit that person.
Interesting aside: if you tell someone their fate, it is possible for them to change their fate; just not you directly. your phone will be your best friend if you get this power.

Emotion manipulation- you can make someone feel whatever you want them to feel. Not 'thought-manipulation', but it can be seen that way. basically, you say someone has a particular emotional response towards a given thing, and say how strongly they feel about it, which in a way can effect the way they think about it, given time. Downside- you are constantly connected with the emotions of everyone around you, and the stronger they feel about something (and the more of them there are that feel that way) the stronger the feedback on you. yes, you can make them feel differently (and more neutrally), but that is a constant effort on your part. also, you cannot easily manipulate emotions if you yourself are numb to them (so if you are a cold-blooded murderer, this power is shit for you)

***Unrestricted wishes

***Mentifery

Health manipulation- decided against. disregard.

Invisibility- no one can see you. Downside: you can't turn it off. Other people can still hear, feel, and smell you, but you can never again be seen. Also, this only affects you, not anything you touch, wear, or pick up.

Division by Zero- you can divide by zero. Downside: yo divide by fucking zero; the world will end because of you
Originally, this was a joke. I never meant for it to actually be used, but actually thinking about it it kind of makes sense. Probably one of the only powers here that ca actually be used to physically manipulate the world (that i am allowing), division by zero would basically permit you to make things that shouldn't, or can't, happen, and make them happen. This is not 'luck manipulation'; this is literally manifesting something that outright Should Not be possible.
primarily, this would allow the presence of 'wormholes' for lack of a better term, that allow you to swap things from one world and another, allowing the impossible in this world to become possible by opening a hole to another world where it is and transposing that new possibility over the old one.
downsides: obviously, you are not omniscient, nor can you see between the realities you are gating between, so the result you get might be worse than the one you already have. also, opening gates distorts the fabric of reality, creating ripples (and eventually tears) which will eventually cause reality to unravel and fall apart, killing you and everyone else if you use the ability too much

Worship inducement- you can make people worship you, materially, personally, or religiously. Downside: once you induce worship, you can't turn it off. Moreover, you have no control over how they worship you, and you cannot stop it, so once you point and click the boulder is in motion. given that they worship you, however, this might not completely be a bad thing...

omniscience- you know every possible outcome to every possible action ever. downside: you are constantly aware of the consequences of not only your actions, but everyone else's as well. and not just everyone you can see, everyone, everywhere.

Polygot- you can read, write and understand any and all languages, ever (even emotional "demon-speak" or emoticons). Moreover, you can understand exactly what is meant (even through sarcasm) and can express exactly what you mean. Downside: If too many people or documents are thrown at you in too many languages too quickly, you will go catatonic as your brain tries to process everything being said.

Possible extension of the game- institutions, powers that be, young boy of great power (think jesus from the infancy gospel of thomas (apocryphal text))

Game much like the movie 'Gamer' except that the PCs re the death row inmates, trying to find a way out.

Game where the PCs play as various monsters (of the mythological as well as the psychological and the technological) who are trying to simply survive, as their home and their entire underground network is attacked by highly trained government soldiers who may or may not have a political and/or research goal in mind
Basically, humans are the real monsters in this scenario

Also, i know that names for characters belong in the Æther pool, but i am not making an entirely new post to add a single name, so here it is: 'Devil's Eye' Montenegro (because 'Hawk-eye is waaayyy over-used)

i don't know why, or how i would do it, but if i ever make a game that is compatible i want it to feature tarot as a major mechanic
like, not just for the sake of creepy, but as a literal and necessary feature of the game that you need to progress further
like i said, no idea how i would do it, but that would be cool

I have not seen much of the game Limbo, but what i have seen is the Spider, and apparently it creeps the fuck out of people

I want to have a game like that, except that the Spider is actually an ally, and you need her and her brood to proceed further in the game.

One problem: you have no idea

So when you first meet the Spider, you run around desperately, trying to get away from her, only to find that you cannot go further on your own. Literally the only way to actually continue is to wait at this one particular spot and Let Her pick you up and carry you off
and only Then do you find out she is actually friendly

Well... you kinda DO need the aid of that spider to continue.. but it is more the aid of its still living corpse once you get it to fuck itself up enough.

Like i said, I haven't played Limbo. i've only seen bits of the spider, and i LOVE it
but i kinda figured you would have to get rid of it at some point

EDIT: i read up on it. yeah, you fuck that spider all to hell
but yeah, what i am talking about in the above concept is that the spider is friendly and helpful, but you don't know that to start with, so you just run around unable to actually get anywhere without letting it help you

could also include some pointed dialogue so that it is kind of a reality breaker.
i don't know. came up with this because i was thinking about psycho mantis and the spider this morning and then that became a thing

Really want to make a game in which the player's primary (and for most of the game only) weapon is a .700 Nitro, but i cannot think of a feasible way in which that makes any real sense, aside from Best's suggestion that i make it the weapon of the gods (which would work just fine i just think it is cliche as shit)

another game i think would be cool:

opening sequence is you, a young woman training for covert operations, entering a mindscape projector, entering the dream-world of an undead serial killer as part of your last training mission.

Basically, Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors
kind of
because you as this particular type of operator have to be able to fight in any kind of environment, including 'other-realms'
actually, Dreamkiller would be a better example

bluh

fucking weird video game concept i just thought up

weird insomuch that it is a fighting game, but you don't actually do any fighting, not on your own, anyway
you have a guardian or protector unit of some kind, and in 'combat' your object is to direct this unit in the best course of action, and tell them where and how to fight

thing is, at the same time, you are in control of your own character, because while powerful your guardian can only be in one place, fighting so many enemies, at one time

so, while they are off doing whatever it is you directed them to, you are having to run and dodge and hide from other possible enemies and traverse dangerous terrain until they finish mopping up and return to help you

Adding an element to this, if i really want to be a dick and make people multitask, is add make your personal actions those of a puzzle
while your guardian is fighting off waves of enemies, you have to run around doing Something that will get the both of you moving along
not completely sure What, but could be all kinds of things

And for a story element, while the plot has its own course, the interactions between you the player character and your protector unit will influence the game in some way
and depending on how you treat them and how they treat you in return, various actions, routes, and outcomes can open up to you, or slam shut in your face

Double Day!

1. You play as a butler. You have a young master or mistress to tend to, take care of their daily schedules, direct work around the estate, make sure all things are running smoothly, direct social events, blah blah blah.
BUT
you are also a combat butler
for reasons i do not know yet, you are essentially Walter C. Dornez, and you kick a lot of ass in addition to your daily duties.
Not sure exactly what the gameplay would be like, but i wanted missions to be a mix of combat, personal, and social stuff, and it could get remarkably complex if you think about it if and when i decide to add in politics and such.
Obvious mission: your young master is holding a party among the social elite. You have to not only get the party ready and run it properly from behind the scenes to ensure that your master does not suffer social death, but also have to find time between getting the servants out of the kitchen with the hor d'oeuvres and keeping an undesirable courtier away from your charge to fight off waves of gangsters (or something)

2. For this campaign, you have a setting kind of like Camp Crystal Lake, Jason and Vorrhees and all, except in this campaign he has already killed you. That's right, you are dead
Thing is, for whatever reason, you are still stuck here, your spirit unable to leave. So, you have to go about finding clues and unraveling the mystery of this place to release your soul and escape.
Making this more difficult than usual is that the serial killer can still see you, and kill you. While you cannot perma-die in this game (except at end-game, in theory; you respawn every evening), when he kills you, you are done for the night. This sounds okay, but if you had a time-sensitive event to complete (like a time-locked puzzle, or an event that can only be completed within a given time frame), well, you are fucked

Notes for Vectors Campaign:

Lazarus Project: series of chemical vats and machines that can bring someone back to life

Rasputin Project: injection/serum/nanomachines that forcefully keep the user alive long past the extremes, pain, and injury that should have killed them

Renovation: when the person dies and is revived, the character they were before is gone- memory is erased, personality vanished, and a new personality or person takes over. regardless of what the body was capable of or used for prior to this new personality, the new 'user' may well decide to take a vastly different life approach than its predecessor.

Interesting setting:

Big corporate bosses sit down for a meeting and one of them puts down a proposal: he wants to establish a major corporation, and once it is all built up, just vanish. just to see what will happen. His idea is that if a corporation has properly trained employees and well-established chains of command, the corporation should be able to function in the absence of its major heads

reason this becomes important is because corruption gets involved, starting before the three main leaders vanish, and then begins to ramp up. These individuals rise to power, are able to control the information flow so that it seems the big bosses are still there and they (the assholes) are carrying out their orders.

Just imagining this set-up where the major corporation is invaded by adventurers or rogue cops or something looking to enact justice, only to find that they have been chasing ghosts, and that the actual sources of corruption are hiding somewhere down the chain of command

weird and complicated, but there you go

this might just be the long island iced tea talking, but I think it would be an awesome gameplay thing to fight your way all the way to the devil's doorstep,

and then you get there,

and the devil invites you in

And you just Sit Down
and have a tea party

if you decide not to be a fucking trigger-happy asshole

There is currently a plan to build a technology hub off the coast of San Francisco where anyone can come and and work on projects from anywhere in the world without a visa

this is very cool

I just had one thought, however
New Bioshock

think about that for a bit

Campaign Idea:
You have a mystical-high mountain, kind of like mount Olympus, where deifically powerful entities reside, but never leave. Reason is that the mount is powerfully magical in its own right. If one of the deities leaves, they descend to the bottom, awaking with little to no powers at all, and complete amnesia as to who they are. There is only one goal in their minds, and that is to climb the mountain.
But something stands in their way. The path is blocked by an invisible barrier. And another. And another.
The journey up the mountain is a spiritual one as well as a physical one. To even begin climbing it, you must undertake a journey of self-discovery
An adventure
You, the players, are some of these deities. You left the mount for one reason or another, and now, with no memory of who or what you are, you must journey the world, in all its majesty and tragedy, to rediscover who you are, slowly regain your powers, and eventually reach the top of the mount
For better, or for worse…

So i know in most games, if you get to a master safe or vault, it is generally a really big, metal door with a gigantic-ass lock on it, and you generally have to find a way to unlock it or otherwise blow it open to get whatever loot is inside

but what if the vault itself was another adventure in and of itself? a labyrinthine dungeon that you have to search top to bottom to find that dark secret or shiny treasure you originally came in here for?
I think that would be cool

Not exactly sure where this one belongs, but since it is based on a video game I figure i should put it here:

‘Okayyy, that was mildly unsettling… and yet, surprisingly I’m not really that upset about it’
‘Of course you aren’t, pet- it takes a special breed of monster to be disgusted by chocolate’
‘Mercy and compassion are virtues that only the strong are privileged to possess- and I, my pet, am strong’
Basically, a re-write of Bloodrayne
Starts off with the same premise: adolescent half-vampire hunts her bastard father, gets picked up by a mysterious organization to find and kill him
Nothing much changes until around the end of the Louisiana arc, after Jurgen has taken Beliar’s ribs from Rayne
In this version of the story, when the ‘Mother of the Underworld’ was released, the seals on a number of other banished entities were broken.
A very powerful demoness and her entourage are released near Rayne. She smiles at this pretty little ‘quasi-creature’ and orders one of her retainers to patch her up.
‘Don’t die on me yet, quasi-creature- you and I have much to discuss.’

‘Oh, stop struggling. You’ll heal faster this way.”
When she comes to, Rayne can’t feel anything below the neck.
A mass of tubular tendrils encase the lower half of her face, forcing themselves into her nose and down her throat
Sound FX: pitiful, wet gagging sounds interspersed with long, audible, painful gulping noises as blood is literally forced down her throat.
Just as her vision is going hazy, the tendrils pull away, leaving blood dribbling down her front and leaving her gasping for air.

And then, there she is
They talk for a time, of what the ‘Mother’ was (oh, that insect?) and how dangerous Beliar is/How stupid Jurgen is
She mentions that Rayne is missing a few ribs
Before she sends Rayne back to Brimstone, she gives her a kiss. As they break apart, Rayne feels as if she has been disintegrated and then reformed- brimming with energy. As that sensation fades, it feels as if all her insides have been lined with slime.
Rayne can’t speak of the demoness or anything related when she returns to Brimstone (she finds herself instinctively lying whenever the subject even comes close to being a subject of conversation) and eventually is compulsed to report back to the demon
She also finds herself enchanted by the kiss, which the demon finds amusing
At this point, the demoness begins to refer to Rayne as her ‘pet’
In the following days, Rayne finds that she can’t get the demon, the allure of her eyes, the feel of that kiss, out of her mind
-in many ways, it is similar to Lilith’s kiss from Succubus Blues
With this, I am trying to lay out how corruption of lust, enchantment, geas might actually feel
The game continues, and in Argentina Rayne feels a familiar call, hears a familiar voice. The demoness is there and is willing to help track down the pieces of Beliar to prevent him from returning
The demoness offers her pet aid. Choose one:
• Gain an enhancement to a physical attribute (for game’s sake, let’s say it scales)
• Gain a powerful (magically enchanted weapon), usually ranged. If that were the case, in contrast to similar ranged weapons in the game, it will actually be worth a damn
• Gain a demonic companion that helps you fight. If killed, a new one will be summoned, but the longer Rayne keeps it alive the stronger it gets.

That said, she doesn’t mind Rayne keeping Beliar’s eye
‘You know, heterochromia does look good on you’
*Rayne getting caught in the sunlight, springing away, and crashing into a patch of shade**the demoness laughs*
When Rayne gets the giant mech: ‘Aww, does my pet like her toy?’ or ‘It seems my pet has found herself a new toy to play with’
In reference to the Mother of the Underworld: ‘Oh, that insect? What about her?’
‘Time’s up, pet- time to get a move on’
‘If it pleases her to see me fight for her I hope, for your sake, that you can fight as well as you talk because it will take a gods-be-damned legion of dragons to stop me.’
2 possible ‘ends’ to game 1:
#1: the game continues progression. Rayne eventually defeats Beliar/Wulf. The demoness reappears, congratulates her pet on a job well donw, and straps a collar made of glass, leather, and lace around her throat. Then she muses that Rayne must be exhausted; she tells Rayne to rest, and the dhamphir gets very drowsy, curling up on the floor as the demoness’ servants swarm the cathedral
#2: Rayne eventually tries to fight the demoness. Her mistress does not get angry, or scream, or absently dismiss her. She simply sets down her glass, says, ‘so be it’, and knocks Rayne down with one blast of force. This blow expunges all the blood Rayne took in, severely weakening her and creating a large puddle of crimson on the floor.
The demoness offers her ‘pet’ a chance at forgiveness… if Rayne will beg on her hands and knees. Rayne tries to fight, but the compulsion has weakened her will to the point she desires her mistress’ forgiveness.
She literally crawls toward the demoness. She is forgiven, but as punishment tendrils rise from the puddle of blood and cocoon her, and she is left screaming into the ball of flesh wedged between her teeth as the demon’s servants begin constructing her new abode around the imprisoned dhamphir.
-note that while she calls Rayne her pet, the demon never really gives her definition, whether that means slave or animal to her, and honestly that is probably best left to the imagination, because the demon might not draw much distinction
The demoness is over 6,000, and she and her retainers have been bound for nearly 4 centuries.
Lots to learn and catch up on, and that is what she says she is doing while Rayne is off on missions
Surprisingly, the demoness cares very little for high heels. She outright tells Rayne that her spike-heeled boots will be taken off in her abode
Of course it could be because the demoness’ abode is made of flesh, but I digress
MAGE!!! Such a powerful mage, it is stupid
I should probably mention that the demoness does explain that power is not restricted to the very old, it is just that the very old are survivalists, meaning that they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves in addition to whatever power they possess
There are prodigies in every generation, as well as those with ambition
Beliar was strong, but he was not the only one. Others have come close, and a few might have succeeded him, had they survived.
So it is not necessarily that the demoness is afraid of Beliar’s return, she simply would rather he stay dead than have him come back to life and necessitate her fighting him one on one.

Symbiote Game
This was something I had the idea for by watching the new version of Independence Day (I didn’t see the whole thing, so I just took an image and ran with it). There was a race of wormlike symbiotes that inhabited a planet. While they took nutrients from their hosts, they were intelligent and did not interfere with their hosts’ natural processes, aiding them instead. The race was also rather intelligent, and highly adaptable.
A time came when other interstellar travelers found the planet, and made contact with the parasites. The symbiotes were found to be a peaceable race, and happy to help others in order to further their knowledge, and so they became well-connected and respected throughout many systems.
Such good times were not to last, however. One of their race went mad, and went about devouring or killing the rest of its race. The mad one eventually finds its way to Earth in search of more bio-mass, energy, and knowledge. This brings other extra-terrestrial forms to Earth, as they have been searching for a way stop it. While the initial meetings between the species are not as smooth as any had hoped, this is where the PCs fit in
They be common folk, going about their lives, but they meet with the xenos who touch down on Earth and help them communicate with the rest of human civilization.
Later on in the story (not much later) it is revealed that some of the symbiotes survived the Mad One’s genocide through prior integration with other xenos, or by having the good fortune of being in cryostasis at the time. Either way, some of the symbiotes are being shipped to Earth, and being integrating with the PCs can grant them knowledge and powers, to help them with interspecies diplomacy as well as fight the Mad One

The Mummy re-write, as game

Children who are destined to be Guardians of the Secrets or whatever I decide to name them are Chosen/Taken/blah at the age of 7
Trained for 7 years, up to age 14
Serve until they are 21
Stay online, in reserve, and on-call until the age of 28
Are given 7 years to live their lives pretty much however they want from ages 28-35, however in many of the birth into family Guardian families if they haven’t had kids yet they are expected to have them quickly
35 on are mentors, then elders

Generally, not permitted to be sent on missions prior to 14, ond one who has served before (one of the reserves) will go in their place. However, if circumstances demand, and no other family can serve, then a child may be sent, so long as they have completed more than half their training (read: they are at least 11) and so long as they are given an escort (support mage or bodyguard; somebody to assist them)

If even these requirements are not met (rare) the family will call on another family for assistance (rarer still)

The exception is one of the main characters of the story. He started serving when he was 11, worked on his own until he was 21. No one had managed to have kids yet, or some sign hadn’t been seen, so he had to keep on working. Even with no kids in sight, he had to work missions in one of the most dangerous of areas, with more activity than had been seen in ages, until he was 27. At that point, the twin girls were born, and the sign was seen. Still, infants could hardly be sent out to fight, so he was pressed into continuing service for another 11 years, until the twin who would take his place aged up enough.

The twins think he hates them, and after a fashion he does, but even he recognizes that that is illogical, as the parents, the elders are to blame. Still, the fact that, within the last two years the constant battles have been easing up, indicating that the twins will have a far easier time than he did, is enough to make anyone bitter.

The game starts off at the ceremony where his duties are to be given over to the girl. The Family expects him to go straight from his war into mentoring and having kids and he is like, ‘Fuck. That. I served my time in hell. I served a decade past what was asked of me. I am owed seven years of peace, and I am taking it. I am walking out of here and for the next 7 years I am not going to give a single fucking thought to this family and its goddamn war. When I come back after those years, Then I will sit down and consider my place in this family- not before. Goodbye.’

PCs play as members of the Families, of age to be sent on missions. Technically one of them could play as one of the twin girls who just took her place as Guardian, but anyone anywhere from 11 to 21 is perfectly playable, just be aware that if you play a child 11-13 you will have to take physical and mental penalties (due to them not being fully developed yet) and you will have to be accompanied by a chaperone. This chaperone might be a human- a teacher or bodyguard- or might be a magical construct servant

Considering having magical construct servants being traditionally crafted in some families at that age. Normally they just function as servants and assistants, but in these extreme cases they are retrofitted for combat. Also, after a certain age or level, the construct is disassembled/melted down and used for a variety of purposes, including the character’s first weapon.

Group of anti-heroes (very serious and cynical) are dropped into a world with no powers

they keep their powers, but only because the universe bends over backwards to compensate, leading to the development of other power users

they are trying to develop a way out of this universe (for the dual reason of getting themselves home as well as saving the world from their fuck-up of bringing powers into a world where no one knows how to deal with them)

they clean up their own mess- but only their own mess. They deal with power users, because they are responsible for their existence. But war? Politics? street violence? not their fucking problem.
They also fight to defend themselves against people, but then the fault falls on the heads of those stupid enough to fight them (or hunt them for research purposes)

also these 'heroes' don't play by any rules- they are incredibly violent, and prefer to go about attaining permanent solutions to their problems, often even in cases where it could be solved without. They pull no punches, the withhold no tactics. they fight dirty, and they fight to win. They cripple and they kill and they survive fighting other power users (even ones who are technically stronger than them) because of that

Edit: current powers (using Best's power list)
ferrokinesis- 5th level
corpse marionette- 5th level
hostile delusions or Jinx- 9th level
orbing- 7th level
apotheosis (infinite variety- currently has antimatter)-5

oh, yeah, before i forget
you have a school set-up like the one from assassination classroom- a group of students separated and ostracized from the general student body
but, where in AC they simply served as the dregs to encourage the rest of the school to do better, in this the school board and researchers both decide 95% productive isn't enough
instead of merely treating them like garbage, the authority figures use the hapless, dead-end students as lab rats for testing a variety of mutations and powers

The Artifact
Every level has one, and each does something different


Video game idea: you are a cyborg, but with diplomacy upgrades, not military combat shit. You are an aide to a diplomat
Only, when the diplomat is attacked and you are the only one left, and have to fight your way out, these diplo-grades really don’t help all that much.
Your cybernetic implants will take the military tech, but you have to find some first