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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5262007" data-attributes="member: 4937">Virtually every mythic hero story begins in the same way.1) The hero possesses abilities which are unrecognized or unfulfilled, however, the basic core of goodness, courage, and honor are made known to the audience.2) The hero faces some extraordinary difficulty.3) The hero finds the means to overcome this difficulty.I believe the fundamental question is flawed.Almost all heroes are both ordinary and extraordinary.  It's virtually impossible to find a hero story that doesn't deal with some combination of the heroes ordinary nature and ordinary challenges and the heroes extraordinary nature and extraordinary abilities.  This is inherent to the whole concept of heroic ethics that resonates so powerfully with people.  If the hero is merely extraordinary, then the hero is not someone that can be related to your present position.  A purely extraordinary hero is too remote to be idolized and his problems (if he has any) are too alien to see in them solutions to your own difficulties.   A purely ordinary hero is not worthy of emulation and does not inspire the audience to strive for a more heroic mode of living their own life.To me, the real question is not, "Is the hero ordinary or extraordinary", but, "Where in the hero journey do you begin the game?"  The D&D model generally assumes that you begin the game at the very beginning of the hero journey.  A model like M&M general assumes that at least the first steps of the hero journey - the attainment, fulfillment, and recognition of extraordinary power - have already been completed.  It might sometimes be interesting to start a D&D game with individuals who are already heroes with much of their journey in their backstory (higher level characters), or to start a M&M game with PL 3-5 characters who have yet to undergo the transformation from heroes to superheroes.  But these aren't the default starting states of either game.Personally, when I play most games, I like to start 'at the beginning':  "Once upon a time, far far away, the King's youngest son, the Miller's heir seeking his fortune, the orphan farm boy, the rogue with the heart of gold, and the young cinder wretch..."  If I can manage it, I like to have the full journey.  That isn't to say I can't see the point of truncation from time to time and cutting to 'the chase' for some specific end, but on the whole I like to start as seemingly ordinary individuals with extraordinary destinies.  Now, whether the ordinariness is a skin deep covering of something extraordinary, or whether it lies hidden at the heart of someone superficially extraordinary is for me a more interesting question.</blockquote>

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