Way back when I was gaming semi-regularly, some of my best writing was squeezed out of character backgrounds…small (a story about cancer turned surreal) was one, and the story of piston (a pneumatic man… bionics for the Cthulhu set) was another, and some of what I consider to be my best work.(see links below) Character studies work better for me than actual plots, the stories sometimes (and in RPGs frequently) write themselves around an interesting person or group. my Niche is semi-weirdness, usually with a twist or slightly dark ending. I’m a nice guy, but seem to like seeing the good guy suffer a bit, if he’s going to win…(and he usually does, actually… I’m a firm believer in letting goodness win out… eventually)
Good Guys I’ve written About/Played -(forgive the cornball names and cliches, superheroes, don’tcha know)
Some recurring themes: More human than human, stranger in a strange land (usually time separation), amnesia, private detectives, postwar mind sets, noir.
Chris Olsen (Trism) mid 1990’s – time lost soldier from 1938 (abducted at Grover’s mill, NJ…taught true movement i.e. teleportation, and returned to earth no older about 60 years later… most of that time was blocked out, but returning slowly… now all his friends are dead or quite old, and the world has changed around him big time.) Sidekicks were Mandy, the new agey bookstore owner/love interest, Leroy the one-armed Vietnam vet, Kyoko the selectively desolid martial artist, and Magneta/Electra the multiple personality ionic onder. (*not* bionic)
Will Piper (miniMax) mid-late 1990s , lost his son to cancer, master of shrinking and growth (a la Henry Pym/Ray Palmer) Light hearted, but driven scientist. fond of gentle solutions to hard problems. quick thinker.
Owen Ng (Sentient Chimp, lab partner to Will) mid-late 1990s – got his intellect from one of Will’s experiments… rapid synapse growth and reproduction, communicates via a keypad on his chest, carries a ‘splooge-gun’ to immobilize targets, and is a whiz at particle physics. The straight man to Will’s light humor.
Zed Kelvin (Zero) late 1990s – “Doom patrolly” sort of guy always on body of liquid, able to telekinetically control fluids, and freeze himself to manipulate objects, armor… grant morrison version of Iceman/Zan the wonder twin… keeps a twin pair of koi carp living in his body as pets/dnpcs… half of twins… he was mistaken for water breaking, sis has no known meta-abilities.
Mitch Renfrew – Amnesiac private detective…reborn every morning to a world he can’t control, keeps records in a notebook, and huge filing system in his home. take blank slate, groundhogs day, add noir and whisk. First off, no, everything is not okay. But second, everything is cool. a good look at relationships, I think.
Jack Hammer (Piston) mid 1920’s, early 30s, effectively immortal, being a machine. seized up and awoke in the 90’s after being repaired as there were some plot devices I wanted to try. (see variant on Trism above) he actually had his own journal for a while. “Private detective’s Notebook” and all that jazz. (warning… private detectives have potty mouths, and somewhat graphic descriptions) The poor boy is doomed.
Wally Scott (Greenpeace) 1967 (Alan Scott’s nephew in an alternate 1960’s DC universe.. he got Alan Scott’s GL power ring, and used it for hippie stuff… vulnerable to plants, not yellow) lots of cameos of classic silver age supers… fave battle cry “SAVE US, Doctor Fate!”
Ugh, getting large. Maybe a showcase-style presentation is more in order. I’ll figure wthich stories to post about later, when I’ve some time.
