The Idea
Title - Periodic (im original i know)Genre - Apocalyptic Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Planned # of Players - 5 - 6 maybe (smol)
Unscripted Premise
Basically this will be set in the distant future where worlds are really getting the tech they imagined in the past decade or so. The only things that weren't possible just yet are teleportation since that involves atoms and scientists aren't that great just yet. Imagine really almost futuristic city where shit looks pretty cool or something. But yeah that's the setting and it sounds like some neat city really the people are nice government is nice police are high tech and nice and all in all a nice place and you can see a clump of buildings at the far end of it (the only place where it's nearly deserted; a few houses are still there because that's the cheapest living conditions that are still technically the city) that houses the science and experiments.
Why did I focus on that particular part of the city? Because that's where the plot starts. Bit of backstory, scientists have been trying to figure out periodic elements at it's core. So molecules and atoms and all that business. It's getting into lowkey nuclear territory so they got placed there to keep people safe. So far so good, the scientists were having some sort of possible breakthroughs and researches using various elements, with the government's permission to call for human volunteers, as the ultimate goal for the scientists would be to harness the power of the elements to be able to use them like superpowers. It continued for a while quietly, there were few to no people rioting about it as no humans has been harmed so far.
Until one scientist in particular had a great idea, called the other scientists around the globe, proceeded with the experimentation, and then the facility blew up.
Like exploded. Crash bits and all. Nobody really expected it to go horribly wrong. It was a top tier scientist that thought of the idea.
Unscripted continuation: You
This is where I bring the "you" bit because you have to tie yourself to the story somewhere. You are someone who was near the explosion. Whoever you are, whatever you are, we don't really care. You can be the facility janitor and nobody would really blink an eye. You can even be one of the homeless who decided to volunteer because they pay a huge amount of cash. But anyway. You were near the explosion radius for some reason, and that affected you somewhere. Whether it hurt you a lot or you only managed to see it, again, we don't really care. You're still in the radiation zone, which is the important bit.
Fast forward to a few days, or even weeks, you begin to feel different. Something's affecting you and you have no idea what it is. The changes start small, only gradually affecting you the longer you let it be. For some, this means their skin slowly turning neon green and glowing, for others, this means having a faster case of a failing kidney. Anyway, you are getting weird powers and consequences! Suddenly, you hear an announcement over the television/radio/phone, explaining that you (among others) have been infected by a "virus" that essentially turns you into a mutant, a being with the abilities of an element in the periodic table. The details of it are a blur to you (I'll explain more when this is actually a thing), but you tune back in as they give action points on what to do when encountering someone like you.
"Run, hide, call the police."
"Or if you're one of them, head straight to the medical center."
"We need everyone to cooperate. This is for the safety of the world."
What will you do?
Highlights (Maybe)
I made GP write this part so it'll be better worded.(Tho I'm the one writing the ones in parentheses!)
Optional RNG in Character Creation
There are two ways to go about creating your character. The first way is to have free choice over the element your abilities are based off of, the second is to select a segment of the periodic table and have your element RNGd for you. The people who go for the first option will only be allowed to pick from the more common elements (the really common ones, like the first ten or something I'm not totally sure I'll have to check this out a bit) while the people who choose RNG will be able to select any segment of the table to be RNGd from.
Plotcentric with a reasonable amount of choice
Periodic is very plotcentric but the direction the plot actually takes depends on you. The story of the RP could unfold in a multitude of different ways depending on the actions you decide to take as players. (Dw about having no direction of choice though there's always the GM-forced ones like you guys being locked up or something; also I have the ending scenes already planned sorta so there will be eventual choices to take-- as a group!!)
Pretty much unlimited Abilities
Your only true limit is the element itself and even then that would still highly depend on your imagination. (But it's not all abilities okay there's also gonna be consequences and stuff.)
No SU Reservations
That's a thing.
Scrapbox Thoughts
Basically stuff I thought about but haven't decided on whether to add it in or nah, probably nah because some if not all of these are a bit bs.- DND/Escape-esque - okay maybe this one I might just get the things that can be used in RPing like the choices thing, creativity thing that's already in RPing so.. nvm.
- Stats and/or Cash system - mayyyybe, just maybe but it's also probably a horrible idea but stats used to be a thing iirc it could be interesting
- Death - also another horrible idea but i wouldn't force them completely out but they can either revive them through scientific means or randomize a different character