Heroes of Midhaven: Attack of the Imagos *** The Scene Midhaven is relatively quiet midwestern town. Besides the occasional holiday parties, and the sometimes rowdy teenage population, they were a picturesque, storybook, fairytale scene, like a dream actualized. Beautiful homes, soaring high trees, manicured green lawns, and a rather scenic park at the center. It was a gorgeous oasis of peace, and tedium if you didn't travel or find something worthwhile to occupy your time. One such worthwhile sport that some young adults had created was a roleplaying club. They called themselves the Woodland Players because they often dressed up in costumes from shows or movies or comic books (any form of art was fair play) and then traveled into the woods that surrounded Midhaven to enact their organized roleplaying games. Sometimes they just hung out while wearing costumes, other times they acted out wild scenarios while pretending to be fantasy characters, and occasionally they partied and lit a bonfire and had local artists come to provide lively music. Backstory The Woodland Players started a year ago when all the seniors at Midhaven High School learned that Drama Class was going to be dropped from their curriculum and they had to say goodbye to their eccentric drama teacher, Miss De La Fleur. She was a stood out like a blooming rose in Midhaven, a native Californian who came to their town just to teach, but now that her job was deemed unnecessary by the school board Miss De La Fleur reluctantly moved back to California and took her chill, happy-go-lucky vibes with her. The students were emboldened to start the Woodland Players in honor of Miss De La Fleur's legacy, to keep a spark of her California razzle-dazzle still alive in her absence. Everything was fun and lighthearted until the Players found the Hidden Castle. Catalyst It was a fateful summer evening when the Woodland Players stumbled unwittingly across the Hidden Castle. It was an urban myth, an old wives tale, a fool's errand. No one actually believed in the Hidden Castle, it was just an entertaining subject that everyone joked about. A grand old fortress that was located somewhere in the sprawling woodland. Some said it held treasures, some said it was booby-trapped, and some said it was haunted by evil spirits. But no one could say who built it and for what purpose -- and because no one truly believed it was real, they weren't concerned with those minute details. They were only concerned with the fantasy of it all. But now the fantasy was becoming very real. When the Woodland Players find the Hidden Castle they accidentally unleash an ancient spirit called Imago and the situation quickly escalates until the entire town of Midhaven is in mortal danger. It's time to face the Boogie Man. It's time to face your wildest fantasies. It's time to dream the impossible. Gameplay You are one of the Woodland Players, a theatrical teenager aged 17-18, and you've just stumbled across an unknowable pagan god, spirit, demon -- a creature of an eldritch age, the likes of which hasn't walked the earth in many centuries and eras. What happens next is fantastic and terrifying: you are transformed into whatever you are dressed up as. If you're a Woodland Player dressed as Tinker Bell then you suddenly gain all of her powers, wings and magic and all, but you are still yourself with your own personality. In essence you become the character. If you're cosplaying as Ironman then your costume becomes real, if you're dressed as an animal you gain the strength and skills of that animal, if you're dressed as zombie then you truly become undead and feel no physical pains. But you still retain your own agency, you are still your own person, just with new powers and attributes and possibly weaknesses (depending on which character you become). This is a freeform roleplay including two chapters, Part One and Part Two, where the GM (myself) lets the roleplayers wander about Midhaven in cliques or on solo missions as you please. You're teenagers and you were just granted new powers, so of course you will go a wild -- wilder than a hippie at Woodstock in the 70's. Or you could possibly want to stay lowkey and explore your newfound powers in secrecy. The choice is yours. But as the story progresses I will present new increasingly difficult challenges for the characters to face that result from the Imago being released from the Hidden Castle. Will you make it your responsibility to regulate the situation, or will you be selfish and focus on yourself? The fate of Midhaven is in your hands...and possibly the fate of the entire world. Let the Players play. Character Template: Name/Age(17-18): Cosplay Persona: Appearance (in costume): Imago Powers/Skills: Personality: Interests: Home Life: Future Goals (if any):
Part One: The Imago is Freed, The Devil Plants a Seed, Will You Follow a Creed or Follow Your Own Needs? The Human Heart Pleads Let Me Be Me It is the middle of summer. Edwin Jameson smiled to himself. Midsummer's Dream, he thought to himself. They had read that Shakespeare play a year ago in Drama Class with the beloved hippie-dippie Miss De La Fleur. "I miss her," Edwin whispered dreamily to himself. Who didn't miss the lovable Miss? She was a star that lit up every room she walked into. Her energy was something else, something etheric and nourishing. Without her...the brightness was gone. But they were recreating it every day with the Woodland Players club. That's exactly where Edwin was headed, dressed up as Robin Hood and equipped with a sword at his hip and a bow and quiver full of arrows. He wore a sort of costume: a pastel green tunic, brown pants, black leather shoes, and a black cap with a red feather stuck on the side. He thought he looked fetching, even if some jocks on the street had laughed at him. He felt free in his costume. He felt strong, important, wanted. The future was honestly uncertain, but Edwin knew one thing: he knew that the Woodland Players was his passion. Edwin started the club. It grew from a playful idea to a self-actualized reality, including several of his theatre friends. Together they were strong. If the world judged them, or thought them frivolous, it didn't matter in the woods, surrounded by shielding trees and greenery. Together they were valid and real. In their world, anything was possible. And none of them knew just how true that statement could be, but soon they would find out. Today, on this fateful summer's evening, their organized game was to find the mythical Hidden Castle. They knew it wasn't possible, that it was just a lark, something to do to pass time and express their creativity. Edwin was headed for the Clearing, a large space that was located in the middle of the woodland. The Clearing was their designated spot for meeting up whenever they wanted to cosplay or hang out. Edwin patted the side bag that bumped against his thigh. It was full of juice boxes and snacks that he brought along for his friends. Their entire lives were about to change.
