Create a Hero RPG SEASON III Application
Character you have created: Wonder Boy, Sidekick for Hire
Alias:Kit Carson, semi-professional street performer, former heir to the Christopher West fortune.
Speech Color: Comic Sans MS bold, Royal Blue
Character Alignment: Hero
Identity: Secret
Character Personality:
A smart-alleck with a real penchant for quips and off-color observations, at least on the outside. However, Carson excells in spite of himself. Suffering from an almost crippling inferiority complex, he still considers himself a 'sidekick' even as a grown man, still judging himself by the standards of the hero he used to idolize.
However, his years spent outside of the costumed-adventurer lifestyle have brought him down to Earth, and have loosened up his formerly rigid personality.
Origin Info/Details:
Equal parts street-wise and book-smart, Kit Carson spent his childhood in one of the meaner streets of Brooklyn, where his impoverished family was regularly terrorized by the rampant gang violence and the resurgence of organized crime. Most of his earlier years were spent either in the library, giving himself the education that the school couldn't, or in the school-yards and back-alleys bloodying his fists on whatever bully was out to get him that day. He was growing up fast and growing up mean...
...until Captain Wonder blew into town.
More of a novelty adventurer than the superhumans that would populate Lost Haven years later, Captain Wonder brought an amazing array of gadgets and gizmos to take on the criminals of New York. What was even more incredible, however, was his unshakable morality, and his optimism that was infectious through the crime-ridden streets. Though he never had more than fifteen minutes of fame outside the city, in Brooklyn he was quickly becoming a legend.
Carson was just starting to like the citys new favorite son, when tragedy rocked his life. At age twelve, a violent firefight between warring gangs spilled into his neighborhood, and his mother and father were caught in the crossfire. Orphaned and traumatized, Carson bought a gun, and planned to use it on the gangsters who took away his family.
Captain Wonder stopped him, and showed him a better path.
Taking him in as an adopted ward, the costumed hero revealed to Kit that he was in fact billionaire philanthropist Christopher West, who was using his vast fortune and his years of study and adventuring to help those who needed it. For two years, West trained Kit in dozens of studies, from martial arts and forensics, to public relations and improvised acting. His lessons were unpredictable, the learning curve impossibly steep, but Kit was eager to pick up on anything and everything Captain Wonder had to teach him.
At age fourteen, Wonder Boy made his debut in the Big Apple, rescuing the Captain from minor villain Doctor Mayhem, and taking the mad doctor down almost single-handedly.
For the next three years, the duo took on gang bosses and crooked cops, not to mention costumed lunatics who put on a gimmick just for the sake of getting a shot at them. Every day Captain Wonder imparted more wisdom to his protégé, and every day Wonder Boy came closer to being as good as the hero himself.
And just as suddenly as Captain Wonder had come into Kits life, he was gone. After a triumphant battle with Bull Dozier and the Demolition Crew, a lone sniper with an atomic bullet, from a rooftop half a mile away, caught the hero in the back of the head. Wonderboy searched for months to find out who or why, but the killer was never found.
Since Christopher West mysteriously disappeared at approximately the same time as the heros death, it was too easy for his companys slick legal team to freeze all of his assets, divide up his fortune, and cut his ward out of the proceedings. Robbed of his inheritance, Kit managed to sneak away with as much of Captain Wonders gadgets as he could, and destroy what he couldnt bring with him to protect Wests identity.
At age seventeen, Kit Carson was alone again.
For the next five years, he traveled up and down the East Coast, trying to fight crime anonymously, but he could never handle it on his own. He was still a sidekick at heart, but with no hero to help, he was useless. Unable to keep a steady job and already educated past what any school could offer, he instead became a nomadic street performer, subsisting on the tips of the same people he used to fight for.
Not too long ago, Kit heard of familiar-sounding stories coming out of Lost Haven. Costumed super-humans, good and evil, battling it out on the streets and above the rooftops. This would be where he could do some real good again, find the right hero to complete his training...
...and with no other real source of income, maybe make a few bucks along the way.
At age twenty-three, Kit Carson packed up and moved to Lost Haven, with Wonder Boys old gear in tow.
His first outing in the city was also his last, as while he was trying to save lives during the Arlaaekean Invasion, he was hit by falling debris, severing his spine and paralyzing him from the waist down. He was in traction for nearly a month, and told by the doctors who treated him that he would never walk again. Kit was resigned to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair....
....until he woke up two weeks ago and discovered he could walk again.
Whole once more and with a new lease on life, Kit is faced with a difficult choice: play it safe and avoid the costumed adventures that have robbed him of so much? Or finally put his talents to good use, discover who healed him and why, and save some lives that otherwise wouldn't be saved?
Either way, all those bills that have been racking up since his arrival in Lost Haven haven't been paying themselves...
Hero Type (Select one):
Normal (Non-powered characters)
Power Level: Street Level
Powers:
Wonder Boy has no supernatural powers, but relies on several high-tech gadgets and inventions from his old days, including a costume made of lightweight bullet- and fire-proof fabrics, a fusion-generator on his belt buckle that powers a skin-tight forcefield (but only as long as the battery holds outabout two minutes), various grappling hooks and bolas, and a pair of retractable billy clubs. He has several more heavy-duty weapons and armor locked away in a storage building down the street from his apartment, but charges extra when he uses those.
Aside from the gadgets, he is an extremely adept martial artist and agile gymnast, a brilliant detective and whiz with computers, and even a pretty good cook. Theres not a lot that he cant do, especially when the pay is good enough.
Attributes (Select one at each category):
Strength Level: Normal Human
Speed/Reaction Timing Level: Normal Human
Endurance at MAXIMUM Effort: Normal Human
Agility: Normal Human
Intelligence: Super-Genius
Fighting Skill: Trained
Resources: Large (at least when it comes to his own equipment and blueprints)
Weaknesses:
Trained or not, hes still a normal human being, with normal human weaknesses. Aside from that is his limiting inferiority complex, still thinking of himself as just an assistant and not willing to go it alone. On top of all that, he cant afford to replace any of his equipment, let alone buy new ones. Even with the blueprints from Captain Wonders command center, a lot of his own gadgets have to be jury-rigged from everyday items.
Supporting Characters:
Kit has been alone for quite a while now, his parents and Captain Wonder killed years ago, his hyperactive dog Ribeye having disappeared during the invasion. The only company he gets now is from his landlady, the surprisingly attractive Sallie Foster, and sadly most of her visits are about how he is going to catch up on his rent.
List a few reasons why you've created that character:This was originally a character Id created for a series based in my own Millennium City RPG universe, so bringing him into CAH will be a good exercise to really get into his skin before writing the series itself. Aside from that, sidekicks are a lost art among superhero lore, a bit of it thats almost always overlooked or laughed at even by hardcore fans. Wonder Boy is meant not only to bring back a little prestige to the woefully underappreciated world of sidekicking, but also to go through the superhero experience from another set of eyes. Also, its just fun.
What can you bring to the RPG?:
A unique character thats tailor-made for interacting with the other super-folks of Lost Haven, and a knack for character-driven stories. Also, I make a Velveeta-and-chili nacho dip that will knock you on your ass.
Do you know how to post pictures on the hype boards?:
[FONT="]Sample Post (Minimum Four paragraphs containing dialogue):
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"What a mess."
That's the best I can manage to describe what I see. In the fallout of the moon's destruction, Lost Haven is--for lack of a better term--losing it. The places hit by falling debris are either completely obliterated or falling apart just slowly enough for the people inside to realize it. Even the places that weren't hit are tearing themselves apart, the hysteria causing widespread looting and rioting. And I haven't even gotten out of my neighborhood yet.
Leaping rooftop to rooftop, I do what I can, chucking down tear-gas canisters to disperse rioters, swinging down on a grappling line to take down the odd crazed mugger before he even knows what hit him. No time to make witty banter or even handcuff the bad guys; I just keep on moving, the adrenaline pushing me to keep going.
I'd forgotten how exciting moments of pure, unbridled horror can be when you actually have the guts to do something about it.
As I make my way up the street, I see a crew of firefighters trying in vain to put out a burning apartment complex. I hoof it as quickly as I can (I have
got to get the bike out of storage), and see that while most of the people inside have been evacuated, there's a man and woman still pointing hysterically at one of the upper windows. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that their kid is still inside.
I make it to the nearest rooftop and leap, firing a grappling line as I go, and swinging right over the crowd's heads. I hear one of them call out to me, but can't quite make out what she's saying, as a second later I crash through the window and into the burning building.
I roll forward to slow my momentum, and before I come up, I pull the rebreather mask from my utility belt and put it on. My mask's goggles switch to an image filter, dimming the blinding brightness of the flames while still cutting through the smoke.
"Hello?! Anyone still in here?!" I call out. Down the hall, I hear a muffled scream. I leapfrog over some wreckage from the next floor up, and follow the girl's scream to a closed door. I knock twice and then call to her again.
"Are you okay?"
"Wh-who are you?" she asks from the other side of the door.
"Someone who's here to help. Can you move?"
"I'm okay. Are you a fireman?"
"Not really, but I'm helping them."
"Are you...are you a super-hero???"
"...kinda, yeah. Okay, I'm gonna open the door here, so when you do, I want you to stand back from the door and get low to the ground. Okay? On the count of three. One, two, THREE!"
With that, I kick the door in, and see the girl, huddled in the corner with a doll. She can't be more than eight years old.
"All right, we're gonna get you out of here, okay? Your parents are already waiting for you, so I'm going to take you to them. Ready?"
"I can't! I'm scared!"
I crouch down to one knee, and open my arms, trying to get her to trust me. Meanwhile, I hear a support beam begin to crack. If I don't get her out soon, the whole building will come down on us.
"I know it's scary, but you're gonna be brave. You're brave, right?"
Tears streaming down her face, she nods, and clutches her doll a little tighter.
"That's good. Now just hold on tight, and hold your breath, and we'll get you to your mom and dad."
I reach out, and she takes my hand. I pick her up, and charge as fast as I can through the flaming room, dodging and weaving between debris, before leaping out the window.
With my free hand, I fire out another grappling line, and we safely rappel down the side of the building to the street. The onlookers cheer as they see I've still got her in my arms. The girl's parents just barely outrun the paramedics to take her, and I do what I can to herd everyone back to a safer distance.
"Oh, thank God! Thank God for you, man!" the father says, pulling me into the big group hug.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's what I do," I say as I try to pry myself free. Seriously, the guy has a grip like a gorilla.
Finally, the big teary moment is interrupted when another chunk of space-debris streaks overhead, slamming into the pavement a few blocks down. Everyone jumps, a few people scream, and then all eyes look to me.
"Is...is this the end of the world?" the little girl asks me.
I look around at the smoldering skyline...and then I see a blue blur zipping its way through the streets, apparently pulling people out of harm's way as it goes. And I can't help but grin.
"Not if we can help it," I say with as much of Captain Wonder's old bravado as I can manage, before I shoot a line up to a nearby rooftop and I'm off once again.