ourcampfire | To me, my X-Men!

This is a collaborative GPSL and the information below is just a quick outline based on my initial ideas. A starting point! If you have ideas, questions, concerns, or anything else to contribute, please feel free to do that. At this stage, anything and everything is open to discussion.

Once people have had a chance to contribute and discuss, I'll get together something more formal (including a timeline so everyone can be on the same page) and we can go from there.

To be transparent, I don't have a set plot to kick things off just yet. There's so much up in the air and so much that could change based on player discussion, I don't want to get ahead of myself. That said, I think it's safe to assume we'll be jumping in at a time of change that will provide motivation for the team to come back together and seek solutions, safety and the like together. I'll update as this takes shape!

CONCEPT

The concept of this GPSL is to create a new team of X-Men featuring characters from the comics and have that team be the original/first X-Men of this alternate timeline. With a different roster of characters, we can reimagine some of our favorite storylines, explore new dynamics, and (hopefully) create something that's fresh but familiar.

My initial thought is that all the characters were students at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, arriving there at various ages and under various circumstances, and went on to spend some amount of time as the first team of X-Men. So, they've all known each other for a long time and they've all been through some wild shit together (that we'll establish as a group).

Now, they're all still X-Men, still associated with the Xavier Institute in some other way, or just trying to live their lives but perpetually getting pulled back in because of friendships, obligations, necessity, or whatever else motivates them. Just can't stay away! Especially with whatever recent dilemma makes up the starting plot...

SETTING

My inclination is to have the main setting be the classic X-Men backdrop: the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, New York.

The characters could live and operate from there but readily access other places (whether through mundane transit or more flashy options like the Blackbird or potentially teleportation) as needed. This would mean that, while the island of Genosha may exist, places like Utopia and Krakoa (as anything but a hungry sentient island, anyway) aren't on the table yet for plot references, but could come up as the game rolls along, if those are things folks are interested in.

Since mutants have been a known entity in the Marvel universe for a long time and lots of comic plots/dynamics revolve around that, I think that should probably be the case here as well. Maybe mutants weren't widely known when the characters first came to Xavier's, but they have been for a while. Things like the Xavier Institute being publicly known as a mutant school or required mutant registration or the like are more flexible and may depend on the storylines we opt to incorporate.

TEAMS

With the current number of folks showing interest, I think we're fine to keep everyone as part of the one original team of X-Men. That said, if we get more people and it feels like that team is getting too large, we can consider other options.

For example, half could be the original team and half could've been assembled to rescue them after shit went sideways in the early days, à la Giant-Size X-Men #1 and/or the Deadly Genesis limited series. This would allow us to bring in more players without losing that small, tight-knit team dynamic and still let all the characters to have a lot of shared backstory.

Regardless, at the modern end of the timeline, we can determine if we need multiple teams based on how many active X-Men there are, what their skillsets are, etc.

ROLES

While the most obvious role that will need to be filled is having at least one leader for each team (both historically and in the modern setting), I think there are others we might want to consider as well.

For example, having a character fill the scientist role that Beast often fills would give us more flexibility with handwaving technological/medical shenanigans. While this doesn't have to be a player character, it could be!

Additionally, having a character with a connection to the Phoenix Force is helpful for kicking off plots that deal with space and the Shi'ar Empire and other classic bits. If we don't end up with a Jean Grey, having a character (or characters) fill that role could be helpful and a ~~traumatic~~ fun thing to explore. The Phoenix Force can canonically be split apart and connected to multiple folks at once, so we have some flexibility with that if multiple people fancy channeling a destructive cosmic entity.

Player Form

Now for the more personal stuff! Fill out the form below to identify characters you might be interested in playing, characters you'd like to see in the game, storylines you'd like to incorporate into the team's shared history, storylines you might want to actively play out, etc. The forms can be posted here.

This doesn't count as a character hold or anything like that, but is just meant to show where people have interest and to help start conversations.

Links

Concept ⮾ Setting ⮾ Teams ⮾ Roles
Player Form ⮾ Responses ⮾ Everything Else ⮾ Silly Chatter
The Inevitable Spreadsheet

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you have any questions or topics you'd like to discuss? Create a heading for them here.

For example...

Should players be allowed to tweak their character's powers?

I feel like moderate power alterations could be helpful and could potentially add a new dimension for some characters.

In some instances, this might be mean stepping back from a power set that's become too broad over the years and returning it to something more manageable; not every character needs to be an omega level mutant and not every player wants to play one. In others, this might mean expanding a power set that's limited or not thoroughly fleshed out. For changes like these, I feel like playing them out in-game could be a fun way to explore other angles of the character.

But what do you guys think?

I like power tweaking, especially since it's an AU and it'd give people the flexibility to fill in roles or go new directions with unexplored aspects.

Also as someone who's considering a stupidly powerful character I'd love the option to just uhhhhhh turn that volume down to be on par with the rest of the team lol

I agree 100% with both of you guys - with so many different writers, especially for older characters, power sets can be weird as hell and too much. Also, honestly, if someone wants to play some silly side character that only has poorly defined basic powers but wants to give them a bit more, I love it, do it.

Should any characters or powers be banned?

In my opinion, there are some powers that are so over-the-top that giving any player access to them has the potential to disrupt the flow of the game for everyone. The biggest culprits for me here are reality warpers (your Wanda Maximoffs and Kevin MacTaggerts), but really anyone that removes the option for other characters to have meaningful obstacles and challenges just by existing is a drag. I feel like these characters either need to have clear limitations or hang out in non-playable character status to be plot devices.

If we do plan on playing with the Pheonix Force, for example, I think this would also necessitate that anyone who takes part in that would have to give up some character control when the Phoenix is manifest and doing its thing. Playing host to a cosmic entity is rough.

I also wonder if some villains should be on the no-play list to maintain their roles for certain plots and organizations, like Magneto, Apocalypse, Sebastian Shaw, and the like.

But what do you guys think?

I think I agree that iconic villains and extremely overpowered characters who are deeply tied to their powers like Wanda should be off-limits and instead be used as potential plot devices. BUT if someone had a really clever idea about reworking one of them as a "what if", that might be neat. They could maybe be replaced by someone unexpected, or who was their foil in canon. Like if Magneto was the leader of the X-Men and Xavier was the extremist revolutionary, etc.

Edited (cliche example but you get my general sentiment) Date: 2024-11-25 04:11 am (UTC)

Should players have multiple characters?

I've been asked by a couple of folks whether or not players will be able to pick up a second (or third or...) character, so I'll drop my thoughts here.

My initial thought was to have this be a smaller player group/smaller cast situation, with each player having just one character. Those characters would then make up the new original X-Men team. But based on feedback and reflection, I'm now thinking each player would start with one character (forming our new core team), we'd play with and flesh out the shared history of those characters for a bit, then open up to seconds. These characters could be introduced by individual plots, a big game plot, or through more mundane means, depending on what makes the most sense.

All that said, if focusing on the new original team idea is too limiting, it can be scrapped. I liked it as a method of establishing a new canon and giving (at least a handful of) the characters a way to have extensive history and some found family or whatever vibes, but I'm not married to the concept.

As always, lmk what you think/like/dislike/etc.

As you know I'm a fan of to characters because I have no self control lol, but I'm more than happy to wait a hot second for another character. I think the original team idea is good and cute

Hello! There's been some discussion in Discord about how old the characters in the first team of X-Men should be and what the timeline is shaping up to be. My current thoughts are as follows:

(1) The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning (nothing to see here! definitely not a school for mutants!) opened in 2012 and quietly began taking in young mutants that needed help learning to control their powers, somewhere to be safe, somewhere to belong, and all the rest. These young mutants were initially just students, spending their time at the institute completing their formal education and training their powers in a controlled environment.

To maintain some consistency, let's say that all of these characters: (a) came to the institute between 2012 and 2016 and (b) came to the institute between the ages of 14 and 18.

(2) With human-mutant relations worsening out in the wider world and organizations like the Brotherhood of Mutants emerging to take radical action, Xavier (reluctantly) formed the X-Men in 2016 to allow his students to put their powers to good use while keeping their identities hidden from the larger world. Students that were willing and prepared to jump into the deep end became X-Men immediately. All the students joined not long after, whether by choice or necessity (sometimes shit gets out of hand and you have to go save your buddy from a giant robot or something).

(3) Every character was an X-Man for some period of time. Whether or not they're still on the roster is up to their player. Regardless, everyone will end up back at the school (and probably back in spandex) at some point. Just be willing to work with the group to make it happen and roll with the punches!

(4) For ease, I think we should keep characters in this group between 22 and 30.
Some character math examples to help get your head around this (if you need it like I did)...

Character A came to the institute in 2016 at the age of 14. They are now 22 and were 14 when the team formed. This is the babiest baby.
Character B came to the institute in 2012 at the age of 14. They are now 26 and were 18 when the team formed.
Character C came to the institute in 2016 at the age of 18. They are now 26 and were 18 when the team formed.
Character D came to the institute in 2012 at the age of 18. They are now 30 and were 22 when the team formed. This is the oldest oldie.

Does this work for everyone? Does this make sense? I will assume this is the plan moving forward unless there's discussion here and we opt to make a change.

I'm submitting Kurt Wagner as character C as a leader of the team.

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

ourcampfire kasey - Date: 2024-12-04 06:39 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

swashbuckler Meggie - Date: 2024-12-04 06:23 pm (UTC) - Expand

hi sorry i'm just posting from my jean account sorry if it's illegal

if i made her baby (character A style) could she also be a teacher at the school currently or is that like. too baby for that lol

relatedly: can you be like active-roster on the team and also teach at the school? i am assuming yes but just to check

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

ourcampfire kasey - Date: 2024-12-04 06:36 am (UTC) - Expand

Hi Hello.

This question is as a player rather than a mod.

SO. The current character frontrunner in my brain is Manuel de la Rocha (Empath). He's a villain from the New Mutants days whose abilities allowed him to psionically sense the emotions of others (...all the time; it cannot be turned off) and to control the emotions of others. To be blunt: he is a terrible person in the comics and most writers lean into just making him the worst of the worst (especially in recent appearances). That said, there were a few early storylines that hinted at exploring him beyond that which got lost between writers. And that always bummed me out because I find him interesting and his powers hit that 'oh, that's useful, but ACTUALLY TERRIBLE' space I like to play around in when it comes to mutants.

Anywho, the reason I bring all of this up is because I want to give other players the opportunity to veto him before I get too deep into a concept. I have no interest in playing him as the worst version of himself, but his powers fundamentally include a loss of consent for other characters. Passively, he always knows how other people are feeling and there's really no getting around that unless your character is a telepath. Actively, he can manipulate the emotions of others (though, ofc, I would seek permission before doign this IC).

From my end, I'm interested in exploring things like how he deals with his powers (all the feelings all the time~), his struggle to actually connect with others, drawing the wrong conclusions based on other people's emotions (he isn't a telepath, he doesn't know what you're thinking!), the ethical questions now that he has folks around him to...make that...an issue, and the like. He's also just a snooty Spanish idiot that deserves to be dragged. IDK. My attachment to him is inexplicable.

I'm also considering having the sensing emotion part of his powers be grounded in psionics and the emotional manipulation part of his powers be rooted in the physical (manipulation of brain chemistry). There's some suggestion of this in certain comics and it seems like it would be a good way to split the difference with telepathic types being immune to some of his bullshit but not all of it. Not sure. This isn't important, but it's been bouncing around in my brain, so I've opted to include it.

So that's where I'm at with him!

If you've got any concerns about this and would rather I bench him, just let me know (here or privately). There will genuinely be no hard feelings! I just want to know so I don't inadvertently wreck anyone's good time before we even get started.

Thank you~ ♥

We all told you in discord but I'm definitely chill with this concept and trust you!!!

Re: A Character Question: Empath and Consent and Stuff (pls read)

ourcampfire kasey - Date: 2024-12-05 04:16 pm (UTC) - Expand

also said this in the discord but i am not only good w this but very amped about it... i love empaths

Re: A Character Question: Empath and Consent and Stuff (pls read)

ourcampfire kasey - Date: 2024-12-06 03:58 am (UTC) - Expand

Okay so.... I'm still working out the specifics, and I'm really open to nudges in various directions.

But my basic concept is that Kurt is in the 26ish age range, and was one of the first mutants found by Professor Xavier (in a German foster situation). He's been putting himself front and center in an attempt to destigmatize mutants. Because his appearance is pretty dramatic to the average human, he thought it would help other mutants who are also extremely visibly different. Reactions have been mixed. This kind of tumbled into him eventually becoming the leader of this version of the X-Men.

He's enthusiastic and supportive, but very stressed out. A cool older brother who is making shit up as he goes. He sees himself as more of a liaison, media persona and planner, since most of his team has powers that quickly outpace him. Still a formidable fighter, but not a galactic presence or even particularly powerful. Wrestling with insecurity, not totally sure why Xavier has trusted him with this.

AND THAT'S WHAT I'VE GOT.

Edited Date: 2024-12-05 07:44 am (UTC)

NOBODY IS OUTPACING YOU, KURT, YOU'RE PERFECT.

But I really dig this as a concept for him! We can pin down a year that the X-Men became public (by choice or by circumstance) and some members (like Kurt) became more public figures.

Sorry for the weird throwback account (it's Rin) I'm on my phone and don't remember my cdj password lmaooooo

Just wanted to slap down the basics!!! My current plans (non-binding) are:

- Emma being like 24/25ish
- After initial team stuff she left for a bit to go fuck up/take over her dad's company and is now back 😌 hello friends, have you heard about what a great corporate takeover she did
- Currently having her psychic abilities mostly only work at very very close range/touching, but she has not told anyone this and will deny it if asked. Occasionally can manage longer range stuff in extreme circumstances
- Good psychic protection against others
- She's not fully telekinetic in canon, I always forget, but maybe I'll give her a bit of it if I limit her psychic stuff
- I'll either hold off on or entirely scrap the diamond stuff but it will not be a part of her current power set

Edited Date: 2024-12-05 02:27 pm (UTC)

Cackling forever at Emma taking a little break to go ruin her father and yoink his company. Proud of her!!

(If I do keep Manuel, he will find this...absolutely hysterical.)

would looove to talk jean/emma stuff next time we're both awake at the same time (someday.......)

hello everyone, jean is bébé in this. extremely brief overview:

- supposed to be a telepath, but not a telepath. jean and xavier both suspect her powers were intentionally altered, but neither of them know the why who or how.
- broadly the same backstory as canon jean. witnessed a traumatic event, became a creepy child with ESP, her therapist shipped her ass off to xavier who took her under his wing.
- joined the x-men team at 14. she took a brief break from being on the team to go to college from the ages of 17 to 20, but has been back for awhile.
- teaches civics/econ at the school rn, active member of the team, and also a notorious mutant rights activist.

her main powers are telekinesis and astral projection, which allows her to go into the astral plane but also move around in the real world as an astral ghost. i would also love to say that her astral projection abilities allow her to spy on the multiverse, allowing her to view other universes and timelines and therefore making her sort of genre savvy, but specifically for x-men stories. mostly i want to do this so she can like, bully scott for cheating on her in other universes, but i wanted to check in w everyone to make sure nobody minds me occasionally breaking the fourth wall with her.

if anyone's concerned about it i do have a variety of concepts in mind for modulating this power (like maybe only being able to see other universes from other jeans' perspectives, thereby limiting how much she can know about things that happen when a jean isn't around), but i do also think this could be a useful plot device in various ways so i'd be inclined to just leave it open-ended and use it as we need to.

like i said in the discord, i am absolutely not looking to do a like, deadpool thing and constantly make fourth wall jokes or anything, but i do also recognize that intentionally shedding the Lore was part of this concept so i'm flexible on including this concept

BABY JEAN.

I think this alternate power set, the ominous loss of Jean's telepathic abilities, and all the rest sounds like a blast! I don't have any concerns with the multiverse angle and trust that you'd use it in ways that are fun, interesting, and/or meaningful for character progression. Also neat to have on-hand as a plot device, so I will be giving that a noodle if you opt to keep that aspect of things~

As everyone is researching their characters I'm curious about potential backstory aspects people might be looking to include as we consider the communal backstory of the team and whatever adventures they've already had. For example, Marin and I were discussing Scott already having previously dated Madelyne Pryor, or Lyss was reading about how Kitty Pryde is a martial artist bc she acquired the skill when she was once temporarily possessed by a demon (sorry to steal your example but also do it it's good).

For an added layer of fun it entertains me to imagine these incidents as episodes of a cartoon I half-remember. Do you guys remember the episode where Scott dated Jean's clone and then it just never came up again??

- that time vampires invaded san francisco and dazzler's boyfriend was revealed to be the son of dracula
- that time dazzler was kidnapped by cultist fans backstage after a show and had to be rescued

Re: Backstory Concepts You Want To Use

totalities marvel girl - Date: 2024-12-06 05:13 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Backstory Concepts You Want To Use

ourcampfire kasey - Date: 2024-12-06 05:01 pm (UTC) - Expand

i'm not writing down the part where scott was experimented on by mister sinister while he was raised in an orphanage. or the part where scott's father is now an intergalactic space pirate. or the part where scott's brothers are now evil mutants. but these things didn't NOT happen ftr he just doesn't realize it

i'm trying to decide if it's funnier if they figure out maddie is jean's clone or don't. like what if he dated her for a few months just to cause drama and then broke up with her because he was too dedicated to the x-men, and still won't admit aloud that she looks exactly like jean