Superhero Campaign Idea: Hope Made Manifest

[Angel Tarragon]

Okay I had this weird dream last night that Earth descended into a dark time and that through the hopes and dreams of the world I manifested my innermost desire: to be Superman! As long as the human race survived a there was a glimmer of hope and people didn't realize who I really was, I could remain Superman for all eternity.

Now here is the camapign kicker: a small group of individuals happen upon their innermost superhero desire and become them. The characters would no longer have a secret identity, unless they told people who they really are. In such a case, the more that know, the less power that individual has as a superhero.

Does this sound like an interesting conceptual campaign idea?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hmmm...kinda like guarding one's "truename"...I like!

Depending upon what system you use, such a background could be pretty easy or pretty difficult to work with.

If you use something like HERO, such a hook should really be a Character Disadvantage of some kind (or a group of disads)- it gets the PC some points to play with, and has game-mechanical implications.

If villains are similarly booned & burdened, it could definitely be an impetus for homicide & mindwipes.

A tweek, if I may suggest it: instead of it being an absolute power drop, treat it more like a truename, in that the Super would have no power over someone who knew his ID unless that person consented.

That way you wouldn't have to alter the PC's actual power levels if/when an ID is revealed.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Good ideas, Danny. Thanks for the input!

 

[The_Universe]

Based on what you have written in the original post, it seems like you'd want to play any villains with an extremely light touch. These guys are probably not going to be ravening lunatics or totalitarian dictators in the typical comic book sense. If villains acquire their power in the same ways that PC's do, nearly all of them will be living out secret hopes and dreams of their own.

Some of them may take things too far; they may be too violent, or perhaps their "secret desires" are slightly less wholesome than those that the PC's possess. Nevertheless, they'll probably end up being slightly more sympathetic than the typical supervillain - more "misunderstood" than "totally evil."

In all, it's an interesting idea - let us know where (if anywhere) you go with it.

 

[kroh]

Although I missed the premier last night (thank god for Itunes), It sounds a lot like Heroes, that new prime time show.

Good thoughts though...
Regards,
Walt

 

[ragboy]

Based on what you have written in the original post, it seems like you'd want to play any villains with an extremely light touch. These guys are probably not going to be ravening lunatics or totalitarian dictators in the typical comic book sense. If villains acquire their power in the same ways that PC's do, nearly all of them will be living out secret hopes and dreams of their own.

Why wouldn't the villians be the 'children' of everyone's fears and dark desires?

 

[The_Universe]

Why wouldn't the villians be the 'children' of everyone's fears and dark desires?

Based on the original post, my impression was that the heroes were not necessarily the product of the common hope of humanity, but rather a reflection of the inner hopes and desires of the people who became the heroes. As such, villains would arise in much the same manner - thus, you might get a guy who thinks he's being heroic by taking care of all the "scum" in a neighborhood...but since he's killing them, he's really taking things into villainous territory.

Of course, if the heroes are chosen totally at random (or aren't real people at all, just personified cultural memes), then your idea probably works better than mine. The villains would be fear, hatred, and loathing personified - bogeymen given flesh.

Either way looks cool to me.