Hero Too!

by Maria Fanning
Hero Too is a single player, journal taking RPG based
around the mirror of trans identity and superhero life.
YELLOW elements, themes, or subjects “can scare
or disturb you, but don’t cause you distress or stop
you from being able to enjoy play.” “If you reach a
Hero Too is a story. A story about your character
entering a superhero academy and realizing their own soft boundary that you’re comfortable exploring,
trans identity in the process. They must balance both of note it in the sheet.”
them in their journey throughout this brand new world.
RED is an element, theme or subject that is not
Your character is the Hero of a 32-issue mini-series welcome in any way or form. It can be any form of
comic. During this, they will come to realize as they triggering or troubling content. If you encounter
work throughout their superhero school that they are
this type of content, please note it in the sheet.
also trans. It culminates in issue 32, where they finally
come out publicly.
GREEN Attributes can be used as much as desired.

YELLOW should be cautiously used and definitely

not depended on. RED should not come into play
IMPORTANT at all. “Remember that you have to respect your
own boundaries here. If it helps to have a buddy to
This game explicitly deals with messy trans check in with during play, let someone know
narratives. It’s not the universally accepting world you’re playing and do some check-ins with
consent. You are not alone.”
of trans identity we should be living in. It’s the one
we’re currently living in. It’s hard, rough and cruel.
It’s about exploring the tough times in a controlled This game is a hack of plot ARMOR by Orion, who’s
Itch.IO work can be found in the product description of
and safe environment. Hero Too!

However, always put your safety and comfort first. The Stop Light System safety tool was inspired by
If you feel you’re going down too intense a road Thousand Year Old Flower safety tool from Thousand
with it, it is completely fine and recommended to Year Vampire.
take a step back from the keyboard and
decompress. The game will be waiting if you want Setting
to come back.
The setting is freely customizable. From superhero
If you realize it’s not the game for you, that’s cyberpunk. To superhero post apocalyptic. To a
totally OK. We all have different preferences and simple superhero world as typical of Marvel, DC or
styles of play. My Hero Academia.

Before play, create a drawn or typed out table of

three rows. Mark one with *GREEN*. One with The only requirements are the following:
*YELLOW*. One with *RED*. They each represent
a separate feeling:
Superheroes are trained from their teenage
years in schools or academies to become
the best heroes they can be. (Or at least
GREEN is an element theme or subject matter you that’s what the officials say on paper)
enjoy and would like more of. When you
encounter something that would fall into GREEN, Superheroic villains vs heroes. Or heroes vs
note it in the sheet. heroes. Civil Wars and all that.

A world where trans identity is at least not

 universally accepted, causing anxiety for
many trans people in the world.
PLAYING THE GAME
You open up on the splash panel of Issue 1. Try to
An arcade episode (Optional)
make it as action filled as possible. Whether from
dealing with reincarnated pterodactyls or facing
The HERO down a living being of electricity.

Think of the Issue name alongside it. It can be

The hero can be any of these suggestions:
cheesy, serious or comedic. It must include a slight
pun towards your emergent gender identity. Or
not. Puns can be hard.
Pint-sized super genius.
Something like:
Muscle bound paragon.

Caped Crusader.
Issue 1: Out of the Closet. Into the Fire.
Elemental Wiz
The Issue must contain the following, however:
Former delinquent being set straight

Someone hoping to turn the superhero

How you entered the academy on your first
world upside down.
day.
A secret infiltrator from the villain side.
Introduction with your new classmates.

Your feelings about superhero life.

But these are just that. Suggestions. Feel free to
customize and change them however you like or
A threat looming over the superhero world
wish to.
that the next generation is expected to take
care of.
You also must consider how the Hero feels about
their trans identity and how it comes into play.
How you feel about being trans.
Once more, here’s suggestions:

All of these stories are written in the present

Proud and unrelenting
tense, as you are writing the main character’s
Guarded and insecure internal monologue and narration. Think of those
apocalyptic logs that are everywhere in horror
Denying and hateful. media if you keep up with it. Write as if it is hap-
pening right now.
Unaware of what the term even means.
Fellow characters are a huge part of the game.
Always knew. Think of archetypes in Superhero Media. The best
friend. The rival. The bottom of the class. The top
Only just realized. of the class. The love interest. The former villain.
Any of these can be included along with anything
you can think of yourself.
But once again, these are suggestions and sugges-
tions alone.
Once the episode is finished, roll a d8. Take the
result and add that onto your current Issue
number. That is where the next narration takes
place.

When you have a general idea of what the

storyline of this Issue is (Make sure to include a
catchy title), roll 1d8 on both tables below to
NARRATING THE ISSUE:
throw in a complication related to the themes:
Narrate and write out each Issue however long
you feel is appropriate. They do not need to be in
sync with one another. One Issue could take only a
Turn Back Time: If one of these roll results 100 words while another could take 2000. It’s
approaches the RED category, you can undo that
entirely up to you.
roll and re-roll/select a new result that is OK for
you to handle. If you cannot find a result that is
When you feel an Issue has been wrapped up, roll
OK for you to handle, feel free to take a break
a D8 twice more on the tables to decide what the
from the game/time stream, and come back to it
complications of the next Issue will be.
later. Remember, your safety trumps the game
every time.
Each Issue, through superheroics and such, brings
the Hero closer and closer to becoming comfort-
able enough in their trans identity to come out.
D8 Superheroic Nonsense
Culminating in Issue 32 when this goes down.
1 The Academy comes under attack by
villains

2 A fellow student may be a villain The Closing Of The Series:

3 A mysterious new super-serum is going
through the city When you reach Issue 32, there is only one
prompt:
4 A villain claims to be reformed

5 You discover a new power you never

thought you had You come out.

6 A respite. I’m serious, just relax and have Everything else is completely up to you. It’s your
a day off. story and you get to write the ending.
7 A fellow student is severely injured/killed
Window: If you feel you are still “In the game” and
8 A new substitute teacher from your are nervous of experiencing Bleed. (More informa-
previous school arrives tion about Bleed can be found in a link in the product
description)

Consider the Debrief as something similar to a

D8 Gender Feelings wrap up of the comic with the creator or a fan of
1 You come out on your own terms to a the comic who related to it greatly. It’s where they
fellow student go over their feelings and experiences with the
comic. The questions below can be answered to
2 You don’t come out on your own terms
help with debriefing:
to a fellow student

3 You meet a trans villain

“When did you feel most empowered during this?”
4 You go shopping for gender affirming
clothes
“If you struggled, how did you respond to it as a
5 You make a mistake and are nearly outed character and a player?”
(And may have been)
“What are things you learned that you can carry
6 A student you’re close to reveals their
feelings about trans people
with from this experience?”

7 You are forced to intern for a known

transphobic hero

8 You get to meet and talk with an aging trans

hero
Touchstones

This is a list of Music, TV Shows, Reading and

other forms of media to help get you in the mood
for the journal process:

Music:

Fly-Rustage
Prove-Rustage
True Trans Soul Rebel-Against Me
Hero Too- Chrissy Costanza
Brighter-Patent Pending
This Is Home-Cavetown (TW: Transphobia. Dys-
phoria)
This Is Me- Demi Lovato

TV Shows:

Young Justice-Greg Weissman (TW: Gore. Blood.

Violence against children)
Mob Psycho 100-ONE (TW: Violence against
children. Sexual Harassment)
Tiger & Bunny-Sunrise

Reading:

My Hero Academia Fanfiction-Multiple Authors

Champions- Mark Waid (TW: Racism. Queerpho-
bia. Islamophobia)
Breaks-Malin Ryden & Emma Vieceli (TW:
Homophobia. Sexual Assault. Self-Harm)
Backstagers- James Ttynion Jr.
Lumberjanes-Boom Box JR (TW: Homophobia)
Ms Marvel-G. Willow Wilson (TW: Islamophobia)
O Human Star- Blue Delliquanti
Kim & Kim- Magdalene Vissagio (TW: Transphobia)
Superfreaks- Elsa Charretier & Pierrick Colinet
(TW: Homophobia. Fatphobia)

Role-Playing Games:

Masks: A New Generation- Brendan Conway

plot ARMOR- Orion
Mutants & Masterminds: Hero High- Green Ronin