Dumb Game Ideas: Mash-Ups

[nevin]

I had a friend who once claimed that a stereotypical 4-color Superheroes setting was inherently a mashup of All The Genres, albeit at a high power level. He wasn't wrong.

Well yeah. Superhero Genre is fantasy where anything goes.

 

[Reynard]

I had a friend who once claimed that a stereotypical 4-color Superheroes setting was inherently a mashup of All The Genres, albeit at a high power level. He wasn't wrong.

Well yeah. Superhero Genre is fantasy where anything goes.

I am not sure that is quite right. There are, of course, superhero genre stories where not everything goes (The Boys, for example), but superhero universes like Marvel or DC are multi-genre settings where fantasy, space opera, horror, post-humanity, technothriller, etc.. all interact. When some adaptations (movies in particular) try and narrow those settings to something more coherent, they lose most of the charm. Sure, you can have a Marvel where only mutants exist, but it is a poor imitation of one where the X-Men and Avengers have to fight Mephisto and Dark Phoenix.

 

[nevin]

I am not sure that is quite right. There are, of course, superhero genre stories where not everything goes (The Boys, for example), but superhero universes like Marvel or DC are multi-genre settings where fantasy, space opera, horror, post-humanity, technothriller, etc.. all interact. When some adaptations (movies in particular) try and narrow those settings to something more coherent, they lose most of the charm. Sure, you can have a Marvel where only mutants exist, but it is a poor imitation of one where the X-Men and Avengers have to fight Mephisto and Dark Phoenix.

well lets see. Forge the artificer, professor Xavier the psioniscist, Jean the Psionicist who can do stuff that would be arcane/divine in a standard fantasy world. Mephisto the agent of hell.....Seems like we are pulling it up from the same well. Many of the mutant powers aren't much different than a blaster sorcerer in a d&d game. Collossus is the ultimate tank. cyclops the ultimate glass cannon.

 

[Reynard]

well lets see. Forge the artificer, professor Xavier the psioniscist, Jean the Psionicist who can do stuff that would be arcane/divine in a standard fantasy world. Mephisto the agent of hell.....Seems like we are pulling it up from the same well. Many of the mutant powers aren't much different than a blaster sorcerer in a d&d game. Collossus is the ultimate tank. cyclops the ultimate glass cannon.

We aren't talking about role, we are talking about power source and genre. Sure, it is all "fantastical" but that doesn't make the genre "fantasy" unless you use a definition so broad it is useless. That is like when people call Star Trek a 'fantasy." That's true, but tells you nothing about Star trek and is ultimately misleading.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I had a friend who once claimed that a stereotypical 4-color Superheroes setting was inherently a mashup of All The Genres, albeit at a high power level. He wasn't wrong.

I agree. Even a cursory examination of the major titles of comic book history will reveal pulp, fantasy, horror, sci fi, westerns, noir, soap and other influences. Several venerable titles include multiples.

 

[Reynard]

I agree. Even a cursory examination of the major titles of comic book history will reveal pulp, fantasy, horror, sci fi, westerns, noir, soap and other influences. Several venerable titles include multiples.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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The JLA & Avengers were foremost in my mind.

 

[Reynard]

The JLA & Avengers were foremost in my mind.

JLU was explicitly about showcasing all the weird edge cases in the DCU.