Hero Salad
a Patreon-exclusive tale of Vegetable Superheroes
The Hero Salad is a superhero story inspired by a bowl of soup.
On the day that the MMORPG City of Heroes was released in 2004, Tass sat down to make his first few characters. He scrolled through the extensive costume options while eating a bowl of Campbell’s Chunky Vegetable Soup, and passed the design for tall, spiky hair at the same time that a chunk of carrot made its way onto his spoon. In that moment, The Unbreakable Man-Carrot was born.
Other players joined in the vegetable-hero fun, which eventually became known as The Hero Salad.
As someone who frequently pursued the role-playing aspect of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, Tass couldn’t let these characters be merely silly-looking joke characters. A backstory evolved, involving an original team of heroes who were tricked, trapped, and experimented upon, transforming them into the produce versions that exist today.
At first, The Hero Salad only existed within the confines of City of Heroes, but eventually expanded into short-stories and role-play writing forums. Tass created Guardian City as a world in which these heroes, and more, could play. The lore grew and grew into a rich world of magic, mutation, aliens and advanced tech.
Guardian City is the largest city in the world. It holds nine districts (each a self-sustaining city in its own right) and many wonders, such as a crashed meteor, the largest ley line in the world, the location of first contact with aliens, and the most advanced centers of scientific and technological research anywhere on Earth.
It stands to reason that super-powered people of all backgrounds and motivations would flock to this city. Many such individuals use their power for nefarious purposes. But there are those that stand against them. Our Patreon-exclusive story follows one such team of protectors, The Hero Syndicate. Arguably the most powerful super hero team on the planet, they have risen to fame and fortune, having literally saved the world from destruction many times over. The tale begins with the newest trainees, First Line, Sindr, and Encumbrance, leading the team into a trap that will change their lives forever… and bring rise to The Hero Salad.
Hero Salad is an actual-play podcast using the game Worlds in Peril, a Powered-by-the-Apocalypse system TTRPG from Samjoko Publishing. The dynamic character creation and collaborative story-telling style of Worlds In Peril balances fast-paced action with relationship-driven narrative – integral for any story inspired by comic books.
Hero Salad is a complete, concluded story of 68 episodes, available to backers of our Patreon at the $5 level and above. Listen to the first episode for free below to get the “flavor” of this vegetable-hero tale!