To me, my X-Men!

[ourcampfire]

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.

<b>POTENTIAL CHARACTERS:</b> Any character(s) that you're especially interested in. This isn't a claim; this is just to get the conversation going. <b>REQUESTED CHARACTERS:</b> Any character(s) that you'd love to see in-game but aren't necessarily interested in playing yourself. <b>STORYLINES PREFERENCES:</b> Are there any storylines you'd like to see be part of the established canon from the start or that you'd like to reserve to play out in the future? Are there any storylines you don't want to be part of the established canon? <b>ANYTHING ELSE:</b> Anything else! Also, thank you for taking the time to fill this out~ <b>LINK:</b>

Links

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

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Comments

First X-Men Ages + Timeline

[ourcampfire kasey]

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.

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

[swashbuckler Meggie]

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

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

[ourcampfire kasey]

CUTE~ Also, my sympathies to Kurt. :') But he'll be great!

(ALSO. For the record, characters don't need to match up with Character A/B/C/D or anything. Those were just examples to help illustrate how the ages/years might line up.)

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

[swashbuckler Meggie]

NOTED sorry I was half asleep at the time 😎 Also I think he might be older???? I don't know what I'm doing

Re: First X-Men Ages + Timeline

[totalities marvel girl]

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]

ILLEGAL. (Nah, that's fine! ♥)

I think baby!Jean as a teacher would be fine. Maybe just toss a note into her history about her excelling in her studies and continuing to pursue education while she was an X-Man and I think you're good to go.

Absolutely, you may be active roster and a teacher!