Why can't I make characters in this universe?

I mostly tend to do the opposite, I start with a concept, an idea for a character, and then write the backstory for it.

I think just making up random worlds is OK, as is coming from Ruritania or Qurac or Überwald or any other thinly disguised portion of "the real world", you can surely invent enough minor states, backwards monarchies or tin-pot dictaotrships for your needs.

I get a bit more hesitant when it comes to characters from other (established) fictional worlds. That doesen't seem fair to me.

I have to admit when reading this why there isn't an official/unofficial 'Guide to Paragon City' or 'sourcebook' for City of Heroes. Paragonwiki and the Virtueverse websites are nice, but there are SO many varied sources to glean game continuity from, I'd personally as a writer and a roleplayer love to have them collated in one place in a readable form.

S.

*shrug*

Not sure what to say, Sam- it may simply be that your predeliction towards grandiose stories has doomed you from the outset; the scale of City of Heroes simply does not lend itself very well to worlds-destroying drama, at least if you want to have your character be a 'local'.

My own characters pretty much run the gamut from one end to the other- on the one hand, my main, Energon X, originated firmly in-universe (although he's Canadian, like myself, rather than a Paragon native), and gained his powers in the time-honoured fashion of standing too close to the wrong explosion (in a S.E.R.A.P.H. lab, no less). My redside main, Mad Doctor Dingbot, on the other hand, originates form out-of-universe- he's an escaped cartoon character from a popular Paragon City children's adventure cartoon... who got into the Rogue Isles via The Television.

*waves hand* It may be that part of your difficulty is creating your characters, then attempting to shoehorn them into Paragon or the Isles. After all, if they've got massive, complicated, 'wilderness'-necessitating backgrounds, then of course they're not going to be a comfortable fit. If you take a look at the existing lore, though, and say 'what kind of stories could come out of this that I'd be interested in exploring?', you might have an easier time of it.

I have no problem coming up with interesting character backgrounds...My main villain, for example, (Botman), is one of the small clockworks that accidentally had an AI module from one of the prince-level models installed, and then fell into a vat of irradiated Tapioca pudding, somehow gaining freedom from the Clockwork King.

"They laughed when I said I could create an unstoppable army of robots powered by Tapioca pudding, but I'll show them! I'll show them all! BWAHAHAHA!"

I'm somewhat curious for why one would play City of Heroes if one wasn't interested in playing in the City of Heroes universe, btw. I mean, why not play PNP or free-form or something else that better fits?

My point was actually something like that: The COH universe is big enough that you can fit just about anything into it comfortable, so only really very specific setups would actually be incompatible, and if you have such a really incompatible idea of a story, something so specific you couldn't fit it in an alternate dimension or paralell earth or other planet or whatever... Then why play COH?

As others have pointed out, the multi-universal scope of the City setting leaves open the potential for nearly any backstory. There are alternate universes in canon that are different enough that Earth is apparently populated solely by Hydra creatures, or where all life has been wiped out. There's even an alternate universe in which an alternate version of your character brought about the end of the world. It shouldn't be a problem to set any grandiose character you want in one of those worlds.

I gather that the real problem is explaining how those characters ended up in the games Prime universe, why they don't have whatever world-shattering power they had back home, and why they're doing whatever it is that they're doing here. Is that about the size of it, Sam?

There are plausible answers to those questions, of course. I'll offer some possibilities for each below.

How did the character end up in the Prime universe?
Actual transportation isn't a problem; it's established in canon that both technological and magical portals can provide passage. Naturally occurring portals are also a possibility. Portal research is a big thing in Prime, which in itself could make it a nexus of sorts. So, why would a character go through one?

If Evil has already won in the character's native universe, the character could just be trying to escape, or looking for allies or resources with which to fight back.

Conversely, if the character is the Evil that has already won, he might be looking to expand his conquest (or rampage) to other worlds. For that matter, if he "won" by destroying the world, he might just be looking for a new place to live.

Why isn't the character as epic in scale as the backstory?
If the character was the underdog back home, there's no reason why he would be particularly powerful, of course.

If the character was powerful back home, it could have been due to access to resources he doesn't have on the Prime--troops, vast arsenals of tech, powerful ley lines, whatever. They either don't exist on the Prime, or he doesn't have access to them.

If the character's background power was purely personal, then it doesn't work the same because the "rules"--the laws of physics, magic, or whatever he uses--are a little different on the Prime. Not enough that his abilities are useless, but enough that he has to re-learn a lot of stuff.

Why is the character doing whatever he's doing? What's his motivation for engaging in heroism/villainy on the Prime?
He could be trying to build credibility in order to ask for assistance...or to betray everyone when his scheme demands it.

He could just need resources to survive in an unfamiliar world.

He could be trying to find a way home, and associating with powerful individuals because one of them might have the magic or tech he needs to get there.

He could be practicing or experimenting, trying to regain his former power.

He could be rampaging, just because that's what he does.

The point is, there are ways to make the stories fit. Most of my characters have backgrounds knit fairly well into the Prime setting, but I do have a refugee from a Brittanic Earth, where the sun never set on the British Empire...at least until the Hellions brought about an apocalypse. (Embarassing, no?) He's in Paragon Prime, looking for help or clues that might enable him to defeat the uber-Hellions and their demonic blight back in his homeworld.

Well, keep in mind if you walk down the street you live on IRL causing havoc the military and the police are gonna come "crushing down" on it as well. Yet, there's still a lot of crooked things going on out there right now. Your character could be seeing the calm before the storm, or officially be keen to a wide-spread and very successful blanket of false security cast over the public while insidious plans are being hatched. Everywhere he looks he sees details of it's implementation, big and small. From the flow of traffic through a city to the design of fast food logos. All of it meant to lull the public to sleep. But there's no face to put on this perceived threat. And when there is, it'll be too late. A Jacob's Ladder kind of thing, maybe.

I never had real trouble with creating characters in this world, most of them are even natives to the CoH universe.

I kind of like my heroes and villains to be somewhat mundane. Sure they have superpowers (most of them) and they fight/cause crime, but that's not really the important thing. Who they are and why they use their powers like that is what matters to me. I usually start with the very basic: What exactly is this character. Human, robot, angel, demon, you know. Really basic. Then who they are. Just basic again, what's their day-to-day life like and how does that effect them wanting to be a hero/villain. Then comes the powers. What powers and how. At this point I can select Origin and Powersets. As a few examples:

"The mid-20's human female sorceress with a knack for barrier magic. She wants to protect those that fight for what's right and will blast her foes with pure magic in self defense." Aegis Rose - Magic Forcefields/Energy Defender.

"The professional assassin who underestimated a target and got thrown in jail. Busted out by Arachnos, she made her home, and hunting grounds, in the Isles. When the Rikti bombed her home, it got personal. She'll kill anyone for money, but will happily do any anti-Rikti work for Vanguard." White Lie - Natural Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker

"A young adult human female who rather suddenly found out her body worked like a powerful capacitor for electricity. (In the story in my head, she found out while showering... ouch.) After getting some training in how to control her electric outbursts by Freedom Corp, she decided to give the life as a professional Hero a shot. She picked an insect theme for her costume since she likes bugs." Candle Fly - Mutant Electric/Electric Blaster

Personally, I hate bugs, but that's why it was fun to make her love the critters. And one more where I really wanted to include the Rikti War in a character, because of how big it is in the CoH Lore:

"While hiding from a Rikti squad during the war, a teenager was saved by an unnamed hero with big red wings. He then got killed by a mothership blast, and she kept a feather from his wings as a reminder. His spirit lives on and granted her the powers of magic arrows and flight as she matured. She now continues the good fight in his honor." Scarlet Feather - Magic Trick Arrow/Archery Defender.

That's how I do it. I start with something rather mundane and add the fantastic. Paragon City is more or less a modern city as we know it, with people working to keep it running. It just happens to have a Superhero Guild and countless villains roaming the streets. I do have some way out there characters, like a demon who got mis-summoned and is stuck or my Kheldians, but they're just in reverse. The Demon is fantastic, then we add the mundane. She's stuck with no way home. Kheldians are fun because you need two characters. The human and the fuzzball. My Peacebringers tend to be overly heroic. To merge with a Kheldian willingly to fight crime, you gotta be at least a little nuts, or overzealous. I play them as the Paladin taken a bit too far. Warshades are different. Dark and brooding. The Kheldian has done terrible things as a Nictus, and the human host might not have been voulentary at first, or a captive host has convinced the Nictus to repent. That's a fun dynamic to play at. But again, fantastic alien, mundane human.

Then when I know all this about a character, I begin on the costume, but not really before. The name isn't that important, as long as it has the message behind the character intact.

I think the most fun part of the CoH universe is that when it's as familiar as it is in relation to our own modern world, it's easy to create these mundane/fantastic hybrids. We already know how mundane functions here, all we need to do is add fantastic. It's not as easy in a Fantasy world. How do we know what it's like to be an elf? Or orc? Do they even think like humans? Can we comprehend what it's like to have a 900 year lifespan? I can't. I can't really relate to them. But a common modern man gaining powers, or something powerful getting stuck in the modern world? Now that makes for an interesting character to me.

I have over 25 characters, and none of them are from another dimension. Really, in the CoH world, we have such a wide variety of characters and abilities that there's no reason for me to need to reach out to something else to find a reason for a character to exist. I have characters from other planets or time periods though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.