Living Superheroes World (Come join the fun and the debate)

[Kylara]

I like your idea, but just so you know Haley's comet based earth in 1986. (It also returns every 75 to 76 years so it would make for a large gap of time with no superpowers...

Also I'm not sure a comet's passing should be enough... Alot of the population would be super. (If you've read Rising Stars I wouldn't be to above about stilling the idea of being an unborn child at the time of passage. Maybe even limiting to how developed the child was, like being between 8 weeks and 10 weeks or so.)

I actually wasn't suggesting that the comet had brought powers before, just that it 'appeared' to be the cause now. People could have all sorts of beliefs about the true cause, but the true cause would be up in the air. It wouldn't neccessarily be causal, just happening at the same time. ie, in the same vein as marvel's mutants, the comet just appeared when they started to show up, the cause doesn't have to be related to the comet, it simply something that people can see and scape goat. Also, just because the first showed up around/during the comet, doesn't mean that they wont now continue to show up now that they have started. It could easily be a continuing effect, ie, once it got started, the number of people with powers would continually grow.

Btw, what does when the comet actually passed earth have to do with it? Asking out of curiosity, since people don't have issues with orcs, or even super powers, a comet passing through on a slightly different schedule should be relatively minor suspension of disbelief. I'd also point out it could be a different comet that showed up for the first time.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Should there really be an overall "Powers have come from this?" moment? That always seemed a bad idea, for me, as it restricts a lot of origin ideas for the PCs. Sure, SOME could be affected by some event, but isn't that the kind of things that's best left up to the players?

And, obviously, I'm interested in this...not sure whether I'd be willing to help out on the running end of things, though, as I've been pretty busy lately.

 

[Keia]

It doesn't have to be the only way someone gets their powers, just one easily explained way. If a 'comet' passed through every 20 or so years you can have some interesting dynamics, millenium babies - much like the Authority arc, the pass just before or during the depression, World War II, 60's, 80's and today.

Of course there would and could be other origins, but we don't have to fall back on gamma rays or cosmic rays, or radioactive spiders, or others of the like.

Keia

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Btw, what does when the comet actually passed earth have to do with it? Asking out of curiosity, since people don't have issues with orcs, or even super powers, a comet passing through on a slightly different schedule should be relatively minor suspension of disbelief.

I simply corrected your time so you would know when it passed though. *shrug* And I could also simply ask why does 5 years matter on your side of things?

I'd also point out it could be a different comet that showed up for the first time.

Very true.

AMG, I do agree with you but also I don't Back in TSR when they had altered humans and mutants it was great. M&M just has mutation has a power source. (Powers that target power sources can then do to many things. A “Comet Kid” that can only drain other Comet Kids would instead be able to drain those bitten by radioactive spiders.)

Also without a large common origin then you’re going to find heroes and villains of different age groups. (And we’ll have to have heroes far more powerful than the PCs.)

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

It doesn't have to be the only way someone gets their powers, just one easily explained way. If a 'comet' passed through every 20 or so years you can have some interesting dynamics, millenium babies - much like the Authority arc, the pass just before or during the depression, World War II, 60's, 80's and today.

I rather like this idea. Though every 20 years isn’t really skipping any generations and your going to have a vast number of more powerful heroes around.

 

[Kylara]

I simply corrected your time so you would know when it passed though. *shrug* And I could also simply ask why does 5 years matter on your side of things?

I really didn't have any idea of when it truly was, but I didn't think it really mattered. The reason the timing was kind of important was because it would put us in the middle of the road so to speak as to power level of the super-heros and villians. I don't really think that we should be set up as the first of the Super Heros. Being the founding members of a group can be a PITA, and having NPCs who are more powerful makes it easy to set up missions, as well as allowing for villians that are powerful enough to actually take on a team of heros directly.

For Example:
First Generation (Good and Evil), PL 12-14
The Fore-runners, the people who set up the team, who assign the people to missions
The Baddies are the Big Bads, the hardened bad guys that push the good guys to the limit, when these guys show up, you know there will be a body count.

Mid Generation (Good and Evil), PL10
The PCs, the rank and file goodies and badies

Next Gen (Good and Evil) PL8-10
These are the punks, a diversion for the professional heros, either not very powerful, or just learning their powers.

This set-up allows for easy adventure start up as the NPC team leaders, can put together teams to deal with crminals, have adventures, etc. It also allows for more powerful villains that the heros can contend with. It can also lead into the Meta-plot if multiple big-bads join up to shape the climate of the city/whatever.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I really didn't have any idea of when it truly was, but I didn't think it really mattered.

You names a specific comet I figured you wanted to be correct in your presentation. (I was wrong no biggie.)

This set-up allows for easy adventure start up as the NPC team leaders, can put together teams to deal with crminals, have adventures, etc. It also allows for more powerful villains that the heros can contend with. It can also lead into the Meta-plot if multiple big-bads join up to shape the climate of the city/whatever.

Why send weaker members when they obviously have the power to stop it faster, easier, and with less chance of human casualties?

And if its because they are taking on far more powerful stuff what’s the fun in that for the lowly PCs? (It takes more than just powers to be a superhero. You need opportunity and stopping a man running down the street with a purse isn't much of an opportunity.)

 

[Bront]

I don't think you should limit the origin of powers, though I think that explaining that over the past X years, powers have become more noticable. Gives a bit of mystery into things, and allows for "Had powers from Birth" scenerios, and doesn't limit an origin, so people who are just inventive are allowed.

I think that just starting out, the big boss might simply be a rich patron wishing to do well in the world, so built a spot for Heroes to congrigate (In a way, sort of a non-super Professor X type). So, basicly, he stays behind the scenes, occasionaly saying hi, but never actualy directly does anything, leaving most of the day to day work to the heroes themselves. He just bankrolls them (The afforementioned Insurance, Housing, and Training). Maybe he gets advertizing Rights (Donald Trump's League of Heroes)

 

[Kylara]

Why send weaker members when they obviously have the power to stop it faster, easier, and with less chance of human casualties?

And if its because they are taking on far more powerful stuff what’s the fun in that for the lowly PCs? (It takes more than just powers to be a superhero. You need opportunity and stopping a man running down the street with a purse isn't much of an opportunity.)

Rarity, there would be very few of them, and they simply cannot be everywhere at once. An example would be the DC Universe, Superman is probably PL 16-18, the other flagship heros would be in the same range. Even at that high a power level, they simply cannot be everywhere at once dealing with everything. The higher level heros in our setting would be even lower PL then those guys, so they can cover even less. It wouldn't be a case of them completely outclassing the PCs, they would be a bit better, but not tremendously so, especially as the PCs can use the PL Trade Offs to equal the raw power if its part of their concept, they will just be that much weaker in other areas. In second edition, PLs are a bit fuzzier in that you can make trade offs to get around them.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I'm not comfortable with the idea of PL and second edition till I get the book in my hands so I can’t really comment on that... (and I still dislike it general.)

Bront, he couldn't really be publicly known. Not too many people would be trilled with the idea of him banking an army on their own soil.