An Interactive Fiction game written by Eric Moser and published by Choice of Games' user submitted "Hosted Games" label, Community College Hero follows the adventures of the Player Character. Born and raised in a Zenith city in a new generation of powered individuals, the PC aspires to be a hero despite being unpowered themselves. As the only non-powered student of the new community college of Speck, Nebraska, you have to overcome challenges using only your natural skills and equipment.
In the first game, Trial by Fire, you have barely settled into Speck when a super villain attacks the town on the day of orientation. You must balance between passing your classes and relationships, all the while trying to figure out how to stop the villain.
The second game, Knowledge is Power, was released on May 17, 2018. After suffering a devastating loss, the PC has to find a way to improve their abilities to stay on par with their classmates' developing powers. But as new villains emerge, and as more questions than answers arise, the PC must decide for themselves—who exactly can they trust?
You can play the first part, Trial by Fire, which contains Issues #1-#4, here
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The second part, Knowledge is Power, which contains Issues #5-#8, can be found here.
The third part, All Things End, which contains #9 - #12, is in production. With few significant updates despite five years passing, though, it's unsure if work on it's still proceeding.
See also Zip! Speedster of Valiant City, from the Choice of Games section, which takes place in the same continuity. It can found here
Community College Hero contains examples of:
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The Trilogy
- Author Appeal: Legal procedures and the like revolving around Zeniths and heroes are prominent to the point where one of the four classes you take at Speck teaches them. This may be, in large part, due to Eric Moser himself being a lawyer.
- Badass Normal: The player at the beginning of things, though after barely surviving their first encounter with a real villain, they can opt to find a way to get real superpowers.
- Badass Longcoat: One of the potential options for a costume.
- Et Tu, Brute?: The series starts with the PC lamenting of a betrayal that lead them to being surrounded by supervillians. Part 2 emphasizes this with events where everyone warns about the PC on who to trust.
- Everyone Is Bi: Which type of character you can romance is only affected by the preferred gender you state at the start of the game. They all react the same way no matter what gender you play.
- Hero Does Public Service:
- In Part 1, Origami makes you come with her to a children's hospital where you both play with the patients there. This is also what you do if you hang out with the students in the "undecided" clique on what to do about the villain making threats in town.
- In Part 2, you can choose to do volunteer work over getting a part-time job or spending time with your mum.
- Humanoid Abomination: Monstrosity X is a gigantic, humanoid monster covered with black skin, numerous mouths, and ridges.
- Fun with Acronyms: There are two recurring examples. One is HELL note , a law subject that the PC takes and WOMBAT note , which is the name of Combat Wombat's armor. Then in the second game there's Savior School's campus store, SPEND note .
- Meaningful Rename:
- In Book 1, you can be convinced by Dirty Girl to change your hero name to "Captain Powerless".
- In Book 2, Mob rebrands himself as "Synergy" to reflect his enhanced understanding of his powers.
- Sibling Team: Fellow students, Rain and Shine.
- Superhero School: Obviously. You start at the school for the would-be heroes with kind of lame powers, because you don't even have those. You get to visit the big time schools on field trips in the second game.
- Super Zeroes: The school you attend is the one where the wannabe heroes with the really lame/weird powers are accepted. In spite of that all the big players of the superhuman world, seemingly especially the really big time villain alliance, wants it gone because it is somehow a big threat to the balance of power.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: While this in initially in full effect, after the death of Origami, it's all but stated that Crook plans to kill the Manipulator. You can potentially adopt a similar mindset; in the second game, you can outright kill the Wyvern and intend to attack the Manipulator with their strongest move, not caring whether or not she dies in the process.
- Weirdness Magnet: It is lampshaded that things tend to revolve around the protagonist and their group.
Community College Hero: Trial by Fire
- Dark Secret: You have one - that your dad was a former C-list villain. You can choose to disclose this to Jacob and/or Stunner. By the climax, you find out that the Contrarian/Manipulator - and quite possibly the Diabolical Dozen - is aware of your past and knows who exactly you are.
- Foreshadowing: You have to make some strategic decisions, which hints at the tactical role you can adopt in Book 2.
- The Glomp: Tress does this to you if do a declaration of love during the game of "I Never".
- Long-Distance Relationship: The PC can have this kind of relationship with Stunner who transfers to Prestige at the end of Issue #4.
- Overly Long Hug: Played for Drama if you raise your Relationship Value with Origami high enough and then declare that she's the little sister you never had — she sheds a Single Tear and gives you a long, long hug.
- Rage Breaking Point: When Crook confronts McCormick, expressing discontent over the current situation and demanding information about the future of Speck, the typically mild-mannered law professor completely snaps."I'll have you know that the faculty have lives too. I have a law firm, remember? I owe a duty to my clients to represent them to the best of my ability, and by the way, it's how I make a living. I can assure you that I'm not paid nearly enough by this school to pay my bills. And living in a 100-year-old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere babysitting a bunch of ungrateful Zeniths with useless abilities just isn't worth it!"
- Secret Identity: It is a requirement for all the students in Speck to have one. Four of your friends will reveal theirs by the end of Part 1. You can choose to reveal yours as well.
- Teacher's Pet: You can potentially be one to all 4 of Speck's professors - but this comes at the cost of relationship points with your friends, which can influence whether or not you clinch the leadership vote.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: As payback for selling out the Diabolical Dozen, your father is killed in prison - stabbed twelve times by an unknown assailant.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- The Contrarian/Manipulator is not afraid of use sickly kids as hostages or hesitate to detonate a bomb to kill Origami.
- Downfall qualifies as well, as apparent when she actually broke Tress's arm, and even appeared intent on ripping Origami in two. And that was just because she wanted to test the students' abilities in battle. Talk about Tough Love...
Community College Hero: Knowledge is Power
- Anyone Can Die: Depending on your choices, the Hedonist and Combat Wombat may be killed by the end of Book 2.
- An Arm and a Leg: When The Diabolical Dozen betray the Manipulator, Monstrosity X violently dismembers her and devours her arm.
- Bear Hug: Dean Tolly is especially concerned over your welfare, hugging you in relief when she finds that you survived your two major confrontations with the Wyvern and the Manipulator.
- Determinator: Despite being brutally beaten by the Wyvern during your first encounter, and despite it being increasingly obvious that it is not a fight you can win, you can still refuse to stay down.
- Dwindling Party: During the beginning of Part 1, there were 32 students who were attending the "Heroes Among Us" program. In Part 2, about half of them remain. By the end of Part 2, Combat Wombat leaves as well - either at the request of his parents, or by his death at the hands of Lady Ash.
- Fakin' MacGuffin: When you face the Wyvern for your final battle, you convince Combat Wombat to give you a fake version of the Combat Enhancer that Wyvern wants for his battle suit.
- Heroic Sacrifice: A non-lethal variety, but if you're planning on being voted to be the group leader, it'll mean making the choice to make sure everyone else is safe before you are several times in the big climactic battle. This means your health bar will be really low by the end of the game.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: You may be prone to this when several of your classmates begin to exhibit much greater potential in their powers. More so when Captain California enthusiastically proclaims that it is the powers and abilities that make heroes special.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: The reasoning you can give if you kill the Wyvern.
- Not Bad: Said by Captain California if you defeat the Wyvern without killing him. Considering that he believes powers make the hero, and that he is one of the strongest heroes around, it is pretty clear that your victory despite being a young non-Zenith has earned you his respect."Not bad for an ankle biter. Not bad at all."
- A Scar to Remember: When Lady Ash demands that the leader of your team step forward, you can do so even if Tress is the leader. Instead of killing you outright, she taunts you before burning you severely. This destroys all your equipment and leaves a scar on either your fingers or your back, depending on your basic archetype.
- The Strategist: You, if you choose to embark on the ultimate tactician path.
- Taking the Bullet:
- Fail the stat check in your second confrontation with the Wyvern, and he will prepare to launch an attack on the "normal" students. You can choose to leap in front of them, taking the blast instead.
- Also shows up during the attack on the school at the end of the game, where multiple times the player has the option to play it safe or imperil themselves to make sure fellow students stay safe. Getting hurt to save the others will go a long way in influencing the students' decision on you becoming/staying leader of the team you've formed.
- Title Drop: Echoed by Booksmart when she denies your request for information on the Diabolical Dozen."Knowledge is power. You understand this. Much of the information's value lies in my exclusive possession of said information. Once it is disseminated, I lose control. I prefer to retain control."
- Took a Level in Badass: Despite being initially beaten by the Manipulator and the Wyvern, you are the one who eventually manages to take them both down in a Heroic Rematch.
- Trauma Button: After being badly injured by the Wyvern in your first encounter, anything that remotely sounds like him approaching causes you to flinch in response.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Your professors aren't pleased when you and Crook get charged with a personal injury claim for assaulting an Untamed.
- This applies to Savior and Prestige as well - the Smarts refuse to disclose information on the Diabolical Dozen, and Mega Cat fails to make an appearance despite the dangers the Speck students face. Made especially poignant if you realize that their non-interference might have led to the deaths of Origami, the Hedonist, and Combat Wombat.
