Watchmen
In New York City, in an impressive high-tech tower out in the harbor, the United Nations' only officially-authorized supergroup — the Watchmen — base their operations for the protection of every innocent soul in the nation; indeed, in the world!
Their names and images are legendary, needing little introduction:
Shaft.
Iron Man.
Together with the full support of shadowy figures like the urban myth "Knight Thrasher", these brave heroes go wherever villainy lurks, halting the most terrible threats ever to be whispered in the halls of the United Nations. The invitation to serve on their Reservist roster — an invitation personally issued by the one and only Captain America to a select few individuals around the world — is considered by some the highest honor a citizen can receive without an elected official involved.
Truly, the Watchmen are the epitome of the Hero, and New York City is justifiably proud that the Watchtower calls her harbor "home".
New Candidates
Having a solid representation for the United States — originally, the Watchmen were the USA's team, not the UN's — their active roster now looks for representatives from the other member nations, particularly the rest of the Security Council. Membership still happens solely at the invitation of Captain America, who has no interest in political considerations; he judges based on an individual's character, first, followed by capability.
Other Watchmen might express opinions, of course. They might pass Cap a suggestion, or a concern. If so, such a contribution happens in private. Heroes become Watchmen by making a good impression on Captain America.
The first question a character proposal should answer is:
What kind of person is this, that Captain America wanted to shake their hand?
What kind of person is this, that Captain America wanted to shake their hand?
Special Character Creation Protocols
Of all the supergroups, this particular one has some unique rules for character creation and for ongoing play.
All Watchmen are designed to be powerful individuals. In MMO parlance, these people are probably "tanks" or "bricks". If you've got an idea for a character that would be too much of a combat monster for the other teams, this is the team to look at! Everyone is able to take a punch or ten, even if he's not really the task force member expected to draw most of the enemy fire. Obviously some members will be more like Triton, anchors to the team combat strategy, while others will be more like Mr. Mist, maneuverable pressure point specialists.
All Watchmen are heroes by nature. Any Motivation is theoretically possible except "Unwanted Power", but "Thrill of Adventure" is going to be very hard to sell to the GMs.
The Watchmen are THE officially sanctioned United Nations supergroup! For this one team only, the PCs are not required to have the "Mistrust" disadvantage. (Nightwing might still have it on his character sheet. Nightwing also keeps out of public appearances, uses stealth or a civilian disguise to travel, and makes damned sure all evidence gathered is submissible in the local court system.)
Honesty is the foundation of teamwork. The Watchmen may have secrets they keep from the world — more than half the supergroup have Secret Identiy, for one thing — but they have no secrets from each other. They know each others' real names and backgrounds, they know each other's weaknesses and mental hangups, and their internet connection comes off a Stark Industries dedicated backbone. They also respect each others' privacy: Dick doesn't like to talk about his dad, and he's very upfront about the fact that the Batman's secrets are not his to share. Alex lost his parents and fiancee in an accident more than ten years ago; it may not be a mystery but it is a sensitive issue.
Side note: because the team should be well-acquainted with each other, and (more importantly!) because the GMs need to prepare appropriately epic adversaries and challenges, all publicly-visible character sheets for this team are going to be posted here on World Anvil as "child pages" for this supergroup page, so that the Storyteller has everything neatly grouped for reference purposes even when a Watchmen Campaign is not in progress. You might be thwarting Dr. Doom, or storming the island fortress of Teleios the Perfect Man. The challenge level needs to match!
Notable Members
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