Hopscotch - The Time-Traveling War Journalist (Updated with character interactions)

nicox0505

New member
Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I've been dying to share this hero concept so I hope you like him.

Backstory:
John "Hopscotch" Ceja. Born a couple of years after the events of Deadlock; He is a war veteran in whatever Deadlocks version is of the Vietnam War. The war was bloody and brutal and one mission would cost Hopscotch everything. One of his platoon members, a man named Ruiz, suffered from the Lycan curse. Not being able to handle the brutality of the war and keeping his beast under control, Ruiz goes insane and AWOL, killing fellow soldiers, enemy combatants, and civilians alike. Hopscotch and a small squad go on a mission to stop the mad werewolf and hopefully cover this whole thing up. The mission almost goes immediately south as Ruiz gets the jump on them, killing everyone but Hopscotch, only severely maiming his right leg. Hopscotch manages to kill him but now all his friends are dead and his leg is hanging by a literal thread of tendon. He miraculously lives, but he had to hobble around on crutches at the hospital before he was able to get his prosthetic leg. The other soldiers took to calling him 'Hopscotch' due to him hopping around with crutches. (People can be so cruel).

Now he's back home in Queens, New York, alone and broken. He spent years living like a shallow husk of a human being, until technology finally advanced in the future that he was able to build his own primitive, somewhat reliable, time machine. He used it to document wars in the past, but really he actually felt strangely at home when he was in a active warzone. He would continue doing this, feeling like he actually had some purpose in his life until his time machine finally gave out on him, leaving him conveniently in the year the Deadlock ritual is about to take place.

Now participating in the ritual, He's faced with a difficult decision for his wish. Either wish to have his time machine fixed so he can continue journaling or wish to have peace in his life, not tormented by his past but be stuck in the past.

Abilities:
(1. Blooper) Pull out a M79 Grenade Launcher which will explode on impact and cause knockback to enemies and Hopscotch if he's close enough. Great for quicker movement and/or trying to escape a fight, sort of like Venators gutshot.

(2. Flash Photography)
Flash your camera at the enemies in a small cone radius in front of Hopscotch, which will render them stunned for a short period of time.

(3. High Morale, Passive) Any enemies near you will gain a small regeneration and bullet resistance boost. The more allies near you, the greater the boost. Perfect for team fights

(4. The Horror)
In a small cone radius like his second ability, the enemy will flashed with images of the horrors of war, rendering them silenced for a significant amount of time. This will be a lot like Mina's ult but it does a lot less damage.

Character Design:
Hopscotch doesn't take very good care of himself very well. Having thick black hair that goes down to his shoulders and a unkempt stubble, forever stuck with a piercing gaze that can cut through diamonds. He still wears his M1 helmet and military fatigues which have been battle scarred to shit. His helmet decorated with a beaded cross necklace wrapped around it, and little doodles drawn over the camo netting. A photo sticks out his helmet band of his old platoon before they all died. His fatigues have seen better days, being torn, shot, and clawed at throughout his years. He's used other clothes to stitch on any holes that got too big, showing his stubbornness to wear anything else, sticking to his past self as a soldier. He wears his dog tags and his camera for photography around his neck. His weapon, The Equalizer, is a mix of a M16A1 and a XM177. Its a lot more taken care of than he is, having his sling wrapped around the hand guard and stock, and a lucky rabbits foot hanging off the sling attachment for good measure.

He's quiet and reserved. He tries to be polite to everyone he meets, but sometimes comes off as awkward. He can be blunt at times, and speaks his mind when he needs to.

Can you tell I'm really passionate about this guy? I hope you guys liked this and feel free to ask questions about him in the comments
 

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I just wanted to added this real quick. These are just small interactions that Hopscotch will have some of the main cast. I will be adding this as its own section for future hero concept posts, so I hope you enjoy.

Interactions:
  • Billy makes fun of Hopscotch for being from Queens.
  • Doorman suggests that Hopscotch should stay at The Baroness because he looks like he could a well needed vacation, even offering him a discount since he's a veteran.
  • Hopscotch thanks Drifter for killing his cousin in the future, saying that he never liked him.
  • Hopscotch thanks Graves for wanting to honor the dead's wishes, for the sake of his brothers that died in the war.
  • Grey Talon learns that Hopscotch had a wife, but she left him while he was overseas for his cousin. (Whom Drifter later kills)
  • Ivy learns that Hopscotch is half Puerto Rican and is fluent in Spanish.
  • Paige pesters Hopscotch about what the future is like, asking if they have flying cars or if they live on the moon.
  • Hopscotch does not like Paradox, saying that they have tried to steal his memorabilia from his time in the war.
  • Rem innocently asks what its like to be a soldier and if he's killed anyone before, which catches Hopscotch off guard. Rem asks Hopscotch for his helmet, saying it looks cool and he wants it, and Hopscotch agrees to give it to him after the ritual. According to Rem, Hopscotch smells like cigarettes and gunpowder.
  • Hopscotch is weary of Silver due to his past experience with werewolves, but she helps him break his prejudice with some sarcastic banter and a invite to Jezebel's after the ritual.
  • Hopscotch asks Venator to pray over the team to bless them.
  • Vyper suggests that Hopscotch should run away with her to the future after the ritual, after she learns from him that weed is legal in the future.
 
A pretty fun set of abilities for a support-type Hero, but... it's kind of missing the whole "time traveler" vibes of his character? It's like if Mina had zero vampire-related skills and only fought using her umbrella. I get that the time machine is broken, but maybe that could be used as part of his kit? Have him carry the malfunctioning machine around, affixed to him like backpack?

Perhaps his 3 could have an active component where you can "rewind" the positions, health and ammo of nearby allies to a few seconds in the past (with a hardcap on HP healed of around 30% of damage dealt so its not too OP). Likewise, his 4 could "destabilize" enemies while in the zone, causing them to blink around the AOE.
 
A pretty fun set of abilities for a support-type Hero, but... it's kind of missing the whole "time traveler" vibes of his character? It's like if Mina had zero vampire-related skills and only fought using her umbrella. I get that the time machine is broken, but maybe that could be used as part of his kit? Have him carry the malfunctioning machine around, affixed to him like backpack?

Perhaps his 3 could have an active component where you can "rewind" the positions, health and ammo of nearby allies to a few seconds in the past (with a hardcap on HP healed of around 30% of damage dealt so its not too OP). Likewise, his 4 could "destabilize" enemies while in the zone, causing them to blink around the AOE.
I get what you mean totally. I did end up thinking of a ability early on where he can be able to sort of teleport to where he was before, like Tracers ability in OW, but I ended up scrapping it in place of flash photography, leaning more into his journalist side.

I just thought of this right now, but what about a ability that does in involve his broken time machine where it malfunctions once activated. If you're in a bit of a bind and you activate that ability, his time machine will shake violently and teleport him to a random spot on the map, or he can do it to enemies as well at the cost of some health, sort of like Mirage's ult in a way, you know?

I do like your ideas though, and I like that you want to utilize his time traveling aesthetic to a degree, even though in lore he can't. I really appreciate you looking into my guy and coming up with some cool ideas
 
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