Secret Identity

[Thom001]

Hello all. What is your heroes secret identity occupation? How does he or she get away to save the day without getting fired? What excuses have you used?

[Jack Burton]

Hello all. What is your heroes secret identity occupation? How does he or she get away to save the day without getting fired? What excuses have you used?

My character's original occupation was as a medical biller. He ended up missing a lot of work due to sudden emergencies and diarrhea flare-ups. The boss didn't want to get too in-depth about his bouts of diarrhea, so my character got several passes for that one. As you can imagine, he couldn't be a full-time medical biller and still have time to save the world. When he ran out of excuses and sick time with his boss, he resigned so that he and his teammates could be professional brand ambassadors for a fence and barrier company. They make appearances at construction trade shows and are featured in commercials. They still keep their identities secret while doing work for the company, although the company knows who they are. Company reps. had to sign non-disclosure agreements so their identities would remain secret. After all, you can't cash a payroll check under the name of your hero identity! Checks payable to "Ironman" or "Green Lantern" probably wouldn't fly with the bank.

[Incriptus]

Sadly I have to say that aspect of supers has never been a real aspect for my characters.
Most of the time they have worked for a super organization.

I guess the main two who didn't were
Crimson Fist = Semi-Retired Medical Doctor
Kalimari = Unemployed Youth

[Daniel Stoker]

My last character worked for a 'shadowy organization' that the rest of the group only mostly trusted, but before that they were mostly doing Archaeology and planning digs where the group was pretty sure a monster might be.


Daniel Stoker

[slade the sniper]

I have never run a game with secret identities...everyone was always on the lam or part of a conspiracy/organization with no public persona. I kinda want to run a silver age type game with the whole secret identity schtick.

-STS

[zerombr]

the only group of mine that actively has a secret identity are the kids of Silver City, who are just sort of trying to figure out what they want to do.

[RockJock]

Most of the games I've played have been sort of an X-Men/Avengers type setup where their super hero work IS their main job.

The problem with most day jobs is they take all day to do. I've had characters that have managed property they own for a modest income and things like that. I've also played games where a secret government or pseudo-government group has used lottery winnings to help "inspire" select heroes with a jackpot. It helps them do more good, but also tells them that somebody knows who they are and what they do.

[Warshield73]

I have only played or GM in a few HU campaigns and only one of them lasted more than a year so my experience is limited. However, in most of those campaigns the players started with a secret identity but over time they always ended up working for some shadowy organization. I have only had a few games were the secret identities actually survived.

One was a game based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer where the characters were high school and college students so the secret identities were part of the game so they managed to maintain them only because they were part of the story.

Another game I ran in college which was set in Chicago and players all worked at the Field Museum which had secret layer beneath it. Again the secret identities were part the story.

Truthfully I don't know if I know how to run a game where the PCs have separate secret identities. I would imagine that identities like student, PI, freelance journalist, or billionaire playboy would be the easiest though.