Welcome to Armstrong Academy
To whom it may concern,
We are delighted to inform you that the Committee on Admissions has decided to admit you to the class of 2917 under our rising stars program. Please accept my personal congratulations for your outstanding achievements.
In recent years, Armstrong Academy has been sending members of our admissions committee to the far reaches of the multiverse in order to look for those with the most promise for our fine institution. This wide search meant that our committee was now faced with more talented, intelligent, and highly qualified candidates than we had space for at our academy, thus, it was of dire importance that they choose those who they believe most exemplify the qualities that we are looking for in the heroes of tomorrow. Leadership, courage, ingenuity, cunning, the ability to overcome personal weaknesses and to capitalize on strengths. Our institution depends on those whom we take in, to help us become better, to help them become better, to help make our world become better. In extending this opportunity to you, we have demonstrated a firm belief that you can make important contributions to our small world and to your, large, ever growing, multiverse.
We really, truly, hope that you'll join us for this next chapter in your life. As a student you will have access to our state of the art facilities, one on one learning opportunities with heroes from throughout time and space, going as far back as the golden age and even reaching into futures that we haven't seen yet!
At Armstrong Academy you will receive the education of a lifetime to help you become the hero you always knew you were inside.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Alexander Armstrong, Dean of Armstrong Academy
The Academy Handbook (Rules)
The Academy has several rules and regulations that must be followed by those attending.
Posting Rules
- The OP/HOST will post a scenario update every 2/3 days. This should give each participant enough time to write up a post with their actions/interactions. Participants will be expected to post 1-2 times per week.
- Players who can not post that frequently may give control of their character to a host. This is useful if you know you'll be gone for an extended period of time.
- Posts should have SOME sort of role-play element to them. This is a scenario. You are playing a character.
- Failure to post on-time w/o notification of absence on a constant basis will result in your character being taken over by a host for good. You will be free to enroll in the next year of the Academy should you wish to resume playing.
- Tag the HOST(S) and any PLAYER(S) you're attempting to interact with in your post. This makes them easier to find and respond to when the story progresses.
Combat Rules
- Combat will occur during the course of this scenario. The majority of combat will be Players v. Monsters (NPCs) though there will be some Player v. Player situations.
- Trying to initiate Player v. Player combat may result in severe consequences. You are in a school. Headmasters don't take kindly to rule breaking. You will be notified when Player v. Player combat is active.
- Combat has consequences, even against the host controlled NPCs. It would not be wise to attack a teacher or a headmaster. Use your brain to figure out if you should engage in a fight, or run and take flight.
- When battles occur between you and the host (me) then it will only require a simple post proving to me that you could beat whatever forces I control. I'm not trying to kill your characters, only challenge them. You may enter situations where your character may die. If this happens another host will vote on the situation as to be as fair and unbiased as possible.
Scenario Specific Rules
- There is NO LIMIT to player sign ups and participation. The sign ups will end on February 9th by 5PM EST.
- This scenario has less focus on the combat and more focus on the story-telling. Think of this scenario as a D&D campaign. It is about world building and character creation. You do not need to be the strongest character to tell a good story & have fun.
- As the scenario goes on the character power levels will increase. If the scenario has enough interest and longevity we may reach high tier characters; as for now, you are all freshman and begin as low/mid street characters.
Armstrong Academy Structure
There is a pathway for the participants at Armstrong Academy.
Classes
Participants will sign up for four classes when the scenario begins. You are limited to four classes per year. You may not transfer classes after the year starts.
Classes serve the following purposes:
- Determine which NPC students and faculty you'll interact with on a day to day basis.
- Determine what kind of bonuses your character will receive for completing class-based missions. Rewards for these missions vary class to class.
- Examples of rewards include additional powers, increased physical ability, additional gear, additional in-world knowledge, etc.
- Failure to complete class missions may result in academic probation, which may prohibit you from attending field trips or joining clubs/sports teams.
Clubs & Extracurricular Activities
Players are allowed to participate in 1 club per year. Unlike classes, you may quit a club and join a new club during the school year. If you join/quit too many clubs too quickly it may have an impact on what the students think of you, so be mindful.
Clubs serve the following purposes:
- Determine which NPC students and faculty you'll interact with on a day to day basis.
- Determine what kind of bonuses your character will receive for completing club-based missions. Rewards for these missions vary club to club.
- Examples of rewards include additional skills and additional gear.
Essentially clubs are like factions or cliques, though they are not the ONLY way to join a faction, but are the easiest.
School Wide Events
Most of the stories contained within Armstrong Academy will follow your character and the character(s) they interact with. Your choices will have an impact on the world but you may interact with characters that other players never meet just due to the choices you've made.
However; school wide events will bring all of the players together in stories that have an obvious affect on the universe you're all in.
There will be six school wide events over the course of the school year. They are mandatory.
Plot Structure
For those of you still confused on how this will work. Your character will attend orientation and meet the other characters. You will choose a class schedule and maybe even join a club, then you'll be off to explore the world. You may have missions given to you from teachers, fellow students, or just other folk who happen to be near the Academy. These missions will progress the story; you can choose to participate or you can feel free to ignore them, who knows, maybe ignoring a mission will allow you to find a different mission that you like more.
The world is your oyster.
There is a loose story I have planned, but it will surely change depending on how all of your stories develop. Perhaps a character I have little investment in becomes one of your favorites. This is how this is like a D&D campaign, and I, as your DM, will adjust the story trajectory as we play.
Much of this game is inspired by the series 'Fantasy High' that was done by College Humor. For a quick sneak peek on that (and how this game is designed to behave) please watch THIS.
Character Creation
Armstrong Academy is a personalized experience and you need to create-a-character for this experience. This character will be an amalgamation of several characters of your choice. You will receive all of the strengths and weaknesses associated with what you choose, not only the benefits, so be wise in creation.
Creation Rules
There are rules for creating characters, please follow them:
- No Anime/Manga characters allowed for any of the categories. This is a personal choice; please do not question it as this will not change.
- If I have a question about any aspect of the character you've created (body/power/skill/gear) then you must answer it to my satisfaction. If you are unable to explain something to me then I may not allow it.
- Don't just choose a character who could win all the fights. This is a scenario. Story-telling is important and your character might want to have strengths that lie outside of combat, just a friendly tip.
- I have final say over all character rulings. If I make a final statement and allow/disallow something, then that is how it will be. I have a handful of co-hosts who help me make these decisions so it isn't just my opinion against yours, it's a whole collection of them. Please respect the rules, please respect the decisions, please just have fun.
Body Selection
First you must choose a body. The body is where you get all of your physical attributes, including the following:
- Strength - How hard you can hit (striking) / How much you can lift (lifting)
- Speed - How quickly you can move (travel speed) / How quickly you can react (reaction speed/combat speed)
- Durability - How hard you can get hit (blunt/piercing resistance) / How other effects may affect you (elemental/poison/etc., resistance)
- Senses - How you perceive the world around you (sight/smell/taste/hearing/touch)
For each of these categories there are limitations. A reminder that your character is supposed to be low/mid street:
- Strength - 2 tons (Deadpool/Black Panther)
- Speed - Peak Human (Captain America/Winter Soldier)
- Durability - Peak Human (Bane/Batman; not bullet-proof; would be hurt by a regular grenade)
- Senses - Enhanced Human (Ninjak)
Bodies that have things such as claws (ex: Creeper) or wings (ex: Man-Bat) keep those attributes.
Bodies that have natural resistances (ex: Aqualad having gills to breathe under water) keep those attributes.
Bodies that have integrated weaponry or special gear (ex: Cyborg) do not get to keep the weaponry or special gear.
It may be tempting to try and find a body that gets as close as possible to all of these limits. I suggest you use a body that you're comfortable with that is well within the limits, you will have opportunities to enhance your physical attributes during the course of the scenario.
You may not choose a body like Superman and NERF them down to the limits.
Skills/Skillset
You will choose a set of skills for your character. You do so by choosing an existing character, and then you gain all of their skills.
An example of this would be if you chose Batman. You would obtain the following skills:
- Batman's Martial Arts
- Batman's Knowledge of Pressure Points
- Batman's Detective Skills
- etc.
You get the picture.
There are however rules that you must follow when choosing a set of skills:
- No skills that allow you to memorize/copy/replicate the skills of other players just by observing them. This goes for characters like Taskmaster or Jin Mo-Ri.
- No skills that include mystical abilities/chi-amplifying/accessing the 'limitless potential' of your character, etc., anything of this nature is considered a POWER not a skill.
- No skills that exceed the limitations of your physical body. If you chose Professor X for your body and then picked the skills of Spider-Man then he would not be able to perform his acrobatic feats; his body wouldn't allow him to.
Follow those rules and you'll be okay.
Power(s)
Your character will have access to a single power. This means, if you were to pick Spider-Man as your power you would have to choose between his Wall-Crawling or his Spider-Sense. You wouldn't get every single power that Spider-Man has, only one.
There are rules and limitations on powers. Your powers may not include the following:
- No reality warping
- No time travel/time manipulation
- No probability altering
- No telepathy
- No mind control or possession of any kind
- No pheromones
- No teleportation
- No magic (if an ability is "magical" by nature check with me to see if it is in limits, just trying to avoid a player picking a single magic ability and it granting them 5,000 powers)
- No force fields that surpass the body durability (would weaken if hit by a tank shell)
- No power amplification (can't exceed limits via powers)
- No power stealing/copying/duplication
- No summons (minions/self-duplication)
- No cloning (yourself or items)
- No insta-kill moves
- No internal attacks (blood bending is an example)
- No precognition (future sight; Spider-Sense is okay, a danger sense is okay, but nothing that tells you exactly what is about to happen and let you plan 5 moves ahead constantly)
Here are the power limitations:
- Energy attacks may not exceed classic cyclops; blast would pulverize a tank
- Shape-shifting may not add mass; a human sized character could not shape-shift into a massive building
- Healing factors can not revive you if you're atomized or turned into a puddle of goop
- Telekinesis may not be used directly on players; may not lift more than 2 tons
- Intangibility may only be used for 30 seconds before requiring a 5 minute recharge; this is to prevent players from staying intangible all game
Sure, the limitations seem like a lot and maybe they are RIGHT NOW. As the scenario progresses the limitations will be lifted and players will become stronger.
Some NPCs may have 'banned' abilities. This is likely because they are teachers or students at a higher grade level.
Special Gear
Your character will have access to one piece of special gear. The gear may not exceed limitations from the other categories set; so you may not surpass the body/skill/power limitations with gear.
Examples of gear that surpasses the limitations:
- Prometheus' Helmet (skill copying)
- Green Lantern Ring (multiple infractions)
- Iron Man's Suit (multiple infractions)
- Tardis (multiple infractions)
Examples of acceptable gear:
- Captain America's Shield
- Green Arrow's Trick Arrows
- Deadshot's Armor
- Batman's Utility Belt (only standard gear; not stuff he's used only once and never again!)
Just be sensible. If you sneak in gear above the limitations it will be confiscated by the headmaster.
Backstory
As this is a scenario please give your character a backstory. We exist in a multiverse so you may use pre-existing character backstory as well as original content. Perhaps your character knew Batman, or perhaps you're from the planet Xigbar where all you eat is spaghetti and you want to learn to fight crime to protect that spaghetti.
Just come up with a small paragraph so we have an idea of WHO this character is. As the game progresses they should develop a personality, we should be able to understand their motivations.
Please don't make all of your characters lone-wolves who try and stabby-stab-stab everything they see. That cliche is tired.
Also -- name your character & provide an image so we know how they look!
Example Character
Name: Jughead Jones
Bio: Jughead Jones comes from the town of Riverdale where he lives with his pals Archie, Betty and Veronica. He's an average boy for his age, isn't the best at keeping up with homework, loves watching movies, and if you give him a hamburger you'll be his friend forever. Jughead hopes that by attending the Armstrong Academy he'll be able to use his power(s) for good so that he can protect his friends, and of course, his food!
Body: Captain America
Skill Set: Batman
Power: Cyclops' Optic Blasts
Special Gear: Hawkeye's Trick Arrows
Character Disputes
At the end of the sign up phase there will be a period to dispute a character or characters. If someone has something that is above limits that slipped by me then inform both me and the player and provide a counter argument as to why they are above limits.
Sign Up List
Click the spoiler below to see the characters whom are already signed up.
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