University Superhero Teams

[Mutant for Hire]

On the cities thread I stumbled across an idea I thought I'd toss out for those who might be skipping that thread. Universities and their impact on the superhero community.

Obviously, universities are a major breeding ground for superheroes, or have the potential to be that. EEs who have too much coffee and not enough common sense building high tech nightmares. All these archeology students sorting through mystic relics. And of course the inevitable accidents in the physics, chemistry and biology departments. Sometimes these folks can have very destructive origins.

Likewise, these places are attractive targets for supervillains for the same reasons that they are breeding grounds for origins. Plus when superheroes take some impounded device to be studied, guess who is going to go and reclaim it? And of course the resultings uperhero/supervillain battles are another source for origins, when you get down to it, sometimes producing further collateral damage as well.

A side effect of this is that likely as not any superhero could *not* just walk into a university with a strange glowing meteor or device impounded from a supervillain but would have to go through a special department and possibly sign a form assuming all liability and damages occured to any potential supervillain attack that might occur as a result. Very few places are going to want to even touch anything Doctor Destroyer has been near. Some places might even file restraining orders just in case.

The top universities are naturally going to have standing superhero teams as a matter of course, and with a good cross-mix of powers to deal with a wide range of situations. Likely as not, this will be supplemented by 'college-league' superhero teams.

The fact of the matter is that sooner or later university officials are going to bite the bullet and deal with college-age metahumans and inventors and magicians by coopting them into the system. Give them scholarships and put together a superhero team, in the more prestigious and expensive universities as the backup team to the professionals but in many lesser colleges they might well be the primary team. A few schools might even manage an A roster and a B roster.

And of course it is going to occur to people that there's money to be made by having college superhero teams battle it out and sell the television rights. At that point you start having high school age supers being scouted by all the major schools and given attractive scholarship offers. Things like eligbility requirements and so on will also start to crop up.

After this gets entrenched, pretty soon cities and superhero teams looking for fresh recruits are going to start paying attention to the young talent on the college circuit. And in time that might even be one of the prefered routes for joining a real superhero team. The alternative would have to be one of the 'minor league' superteams that don't require any previous history.

An interesting possibility is the 'ineligable' teams that form, composed of students who couldn't or wouldn't qualify for the main team, operating against school regulations and so having to use secret identities (and having underground popularity with certain elements of the school).

Now this raises the questions: what schools are likely to have the best teams and for that matter, what sort of teams would various schools favor?

[Kaeto]

The University of Michigan would have all Anthropromorpic Wolverenes.:D

[BlackCobra]

MIT, RPI, Virginia Tech, CalTech and the like would all rule the Inventors and probably have a number of team members just using nice suits/inventions produced by the current team or previous team's work.

Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League schools would have extremely well-funded teams with a great mix of supers -- probably with a tendency towards the mystics and psychics.

Chicago U and other strong anthropology & archaeology programs would have the strong advantage in the mystics, although some small schools with odd locations or backgrounds might have suprisingly strong teams in that area (Arkham anyone?).

Small liberal arts schools would probably take a very low-key approach to superhero teams, particularly ones without a history of strong sports teams. But they would end up with the strangest mix of supers -- strong on the mysics and psychics, but with the odd inventor thrown in.

That's just off the top of my head -- I'm sure others will chime in with more.

[winterhawk]

In the spirit of March Madness, wouldn't the schools who had good sports teams have the best hero teams? Using your recruitment theory, the schools with the best programs would have to most experience in recruitment. So I'd think the Big East, The Big 10, PAC 10, ACC, etc. would have the 'best' recruits. The Ivy League would have the 'pretty good guys that were really smart'. The Missouri Valley Conference, the league my alma mater is in, would have low powered, but scrappy guys.

[Mutant for Hire]

Originally posted by winterhawk
In the spirit of March Madness, wouldn't the schools who had good sports teams have the best hero teams? Using your recruitment theory, the schools with the best programs would have to most experience in recruitment. So I'd think the Big East, The Big 10, PAC 10, ACC, etc. would have the 'best' recruits. The Ivy League would have the 'pretty good guys that were really smart'. The Missouri Valley Conference, the league my alma mater is in, would have low powered, but scrappy guys.

Well, the difference between football and superheroing is that a hundred and twenty pound guy is allowed to build a suit of powered armor that weighs over a quarter ton to compensate in the latter. Not to mention they're going to average more scientific accidents that endow people with great powers. And for that matter the scientific nerds that accidentally endowed themselves with power in high school (the Peter Parker type) are more likely to accept a scholarship from MIT than from Notre Dame.

[Mutant for Hire]

Originally posted by Kaeto
The University of Michigan would have all Anthropromorpic Wolverenes.:D

"Ah Kaeto, welcome to the University of Michigan Superhero team. I'd just like to familiarize you with a few of the ground rules. All of this is covered in detail in the packet here." *thud as five hundred page book is dropped on the table* "You will be expected to know about all of this."

"Our public relations department is trying to think of what adjective associated with 'wolverine' will be most compatible with your powers while at the same time putting the university in the most favorable light. Of course in the field you will be required to use the team number assigned to you and prominently displayed on your uniform."

"Here is your standard issue wolverine costume. You'll be happy to note under the layer of fur is kevlar armor. Please take care not to damage the nose, that's where the tape recorder and frontal speaker for broadcasting the school anthem goes. The ears of course are the side speakers. Be careful to protect the tail, that contains the antennae that broadcasts the telemetry information for our scientists, tactical advisors and lawyers to manage all of your activites as one of the Wolverines. Remember that deliberately breaking the tail is a violation of the terms of your scholarship."

[Hermit]

Behold... the Notre Dame Irregulars....
Leprechaun, Cudgel, Lugh, and....
Hunchback!

;)

[BNakagawa]

Ah, then there's Wake Forest, breeding ground of villainy.

[lemming]

I'd be most scared of the Arkham team. :eek:

[winterhawk]

Originally posted by BNakagawa
Ah, then there's Wake Forest, breeding ground of villainy.

I beg to differ...that would be Bradley, and to a lesser degree Southern Illinois. :p

[Mutant for Hire]

Originally posted by winterhawk
I beg to differ...that would be Bradley, and to a lesser degree Southern Illinois. :p

For those of us who don't know Wake Forest or Bradley get some explanation?

[BarryB]

Originally posted by lemming
I'd be most scared of the Arkham team. :eek:

Every game is won due to sickness on the part of the opposing team. Mental illness, to be precise. :)

[BarryB]

Clearly we need rules for superhero football or baseball.

[winterhawk]

Originally posted by Mutant for Hire
For those of us who don't know Wake Forest or Bradley get some explanation?

Can't speak for Wake, but Bradley was my school's arch-rival in basketball.

[Supreme]

I think you have touched on a great idea, MFH. Though I don't think its so cut-and-dried that they would eventually accept the student meta-humans into their system. There are always so many other factors to consider, and when it comes to colleges common sense and fiscal efficiency so often come last. There are so many other issues to consider. Politics. Insurance. Local community laws and customs.

Probably the #1 motivator in all policy decisions is the attitudes of the contributing alumni. They are the ones who pay the bills. Well, they get federal and state funds too, but the state and federal governments have strict rules restricting what they can and cannot ask of the colleges. If the college is in an area with largely anti-super alumni, then the college will probably have a much less accepting policy. Legally they couldn't dismiss a student for accidentally developing super-powers. However, they might have a rule that the use of any super-powers on campus is grounds for immediate dismissal.

And things like this are never simple for colleges. If there's a federal or state law requiring colleges to dismiss super-powered students for using their powers on campus, then in protest teachers and student groups will form to shelter the super-human students. This is especially likely if the state or federal government is headed by a different party.

You should decide how each political party stands on various super-human issues and why. Then you should decide what is the political leaning of the college at the administration, faculty, and student level. The tendency is to lean increasingly to the left the further you go down that list, though there are exceptions. For instance, in Berkeley, CA the faculty and administration tend to be much more left than a lot of the students, particularly in the mathematics and engineering departments where the students tend to be much more right-wing.

Anyway, once you've decided which way each group leans, decide which way the federal, state, and campus laws are (and county or city as well). Now figure that wherever each group disagrees with the law, figure that there is going to be some way in which they defy that law. They will defy it. They will be overt about it. An administration may object to a super-human registration law by refusing to allow a SH registration office to be opened on campus, or making a policy to refuse to discuss super-powers with any student (to provide credible deniability about knowledge of unregistered super-human students).

Whoa. That was a lot out of me wasn't it?

[Mutant for Hire]

Actually, it was the alumni that made me most think about the student superhero teams. All it takes is for one school to have their own college superhero team and pretty soon all the other schools are going to be getting phone calls from their alumni asking why their school doesn't have a superhero team. As you said, common senses and fiscal efficiency often take a back seat to other issues. Even if this is some podunk school that even a two bit supervillain wouldn't bother with, they're going to need their own superhero team just because.

[Peregrine]

Don't overlook that the major sports teams (football and basketball) are revenue generators for their schools by way of the advertising revenues their televised games generate. Also, collegiate sports are often seen as a gateway into professional or Olympic sports.

For there to be collegiate superteams analogous to collegiate sports teams, one or both of the above might be necessarily applicable to the superteams. In the absence of organizing bodies for supers analogous to those found in the various sports allowing for a reasonable expectation that collegiate supers had a better opportunity to join 'major league' superteams after graduation (or the end of whatever eligibility they are allowed) and/or the opportunity for collegiate superteams to generate revenues (via advertising, for example) for their sponsoring institution, there may be no compelling reason for such teams to exist.

That said, there is probably a good campaign or three to be found in the idea of collegiate superteams. If such a campaign addressed the above issues, so much the better.

[Mutant for Hire]

Somehow I am convinced that if there isn't a collegiate superhero league that someone is going to invent one. The only main obstacles are safety/liability issues involved. Given the profits that can be made from a staged superhero battle, I think that someone is going to find a way around it. Call it my unswering faith in human nature.

[Peregrine]

These days, there'd need to be a professional superhero league for the supers to 'graduate' to, or the established superhero teams would have to look to the collegiate teams for new recruits, and recruit regularly, in order for there to be an incentive for collegiate teams to from, unless (as suggested) the colleges devised a way of directly profiting from superbattles. Which raises the question - why would colleges be unique in profiting from superbattles? Why wouldn't, say, corporations also profit from the battles. Of course, that creates the de facto 'professional' superteams... say, we may just have something here...

[Karma]

Originally posted by Peregrine
These days, there'd need to be a professional superhero league for the supers to 'graduate' to, or the established superhero teams would have to look to the collegiate teams for new recruits, and recruit regularly, in order for there to be an incentive for collegiate teams to from, unless (as suggested) the colleges devised a way of directly profiting from superbattles. Which raises the question - why would colleges be unique in profiting from superbattles? Why wouldn't, say, corporations also profit from the battles. Of course, that creates the de facto 'professional' superteams... say, we may just have something here...

See 'Binary Man' in CU. Man this could lead to a new thread. Corporate Supers & their powers.

Scary Thought of the Day:
1) Ronald McDonald as a Superbeing!!!

[Peregrine]

Binary Man is corporate sponsored for advertising/publicity purposes, the idea being that his highly visible activities will raise awareness of Binary Corp. in the mind of the public and thus any potential Binary customers.

To extrapolate collegiate superteams from that would require two things - superteam activities serving as positive publicity for their sponsoring colleges and universities, thus leading to increased funding (from increased enrollment, increased alumni donations, etc.); and corporate sponsored superteams recruiting primarily from the collegiate teams. If the collegiate teams are not seen as a gateway to the 'pros' (corporate-sponsored positions), then the incentive for the potential collegiate super is to go straight to corporate sponsorship.

[Supreme]

I can see that people here are equating super-hero teams with sports teams. But there's one crucial difference between the two as they relate to revenue. Sports teams have scheduled competitions which generate tons of revenue. Super-hero teams have very irregular competitions called "battles" where no real income is generated, and lots of property damage is accrued. Yes, super-hero teams can do things like a charity show where the brick lifts a battle ship or other displays of power. But that would get old fast.

Both hero and sports teams can sell lots of merchandise. But without regular and regulated events like meets, the public interest would soon wane.

[RevHooligan]

As a resident and native of New Haven, I need to point out that all Yale students believe they have superpowers. Why else would they walk out into traffic like they do?

[Supreme]

University of California at Berkeley students have these powers:

Shape-shift: vs hearing, sounds like someone more intelligent than they are
TK: Area effect radius, megascale, always on, persistent, 0 END, only works on money

[RevHooligan]

The premier superhero at Yale must be Fist Magnet. He has Mind Control (one command "Punch Me"). And 200 pts in 8 or less Knowlegde Skills.

[RevHooligan]

Common powers of university students would include Couch Meld, Mooch, and a linked mind control and invisability to allow them to not pay their share of diner checks.

[Pogo]

Originally posted by Mutant for Hire
For those of us who don't know Wake Forest or Bradley get some explanation?

I'm guessing it's because WFU's mascot is the Demon Deacon. Just think what happens when they go up against the Duke Blue Devils.

I'd love to see Tim Duncan with superpowers though.

[BlackCobra]

Originally posted by Supreme
I can see that people here are equating super-hero teams with sports teams. But there's one crucial difference between the two as they relate to revenue. Sports teams have scheduled competitions which generate tons of revenue. Super-hero teams have very irregular competitions called "battles" where no real income is generated, and lots of property damage is accrued. Yes, super-hero teams can do things like a charity show where the brick lifts a battle ship or other displays of power. But that would get old fast.

Both hero and sports teams can sell lots of merchandise. But without regular and regulated events like meets, the public interest would soon wane.

I think you guys are talking two different kinds of things here -- sports-supers and actual superhero teams. One's job is largely entertainment (play games) and the other is largely protective (stop supervillains/crime). If, as MfH's original premise goes, super powers show up regularly on campus (see his post for reasons) and you can expect a certain level of supervillains to show up, you need a protective team. One that's probably at least lead by a full-time professional, if not entirely staffed by professionals (Campus Super-Safety, anyone?). I can see these teams having student members, particularly at the smaller colleges, but at the bigger Universities, I would imagine they're all staffed by professional supers.

If you had a super-hero level game that a superhero team could compete in (super-football, super-soccer, I don't know), then you have the direct parallel with regular sports teams. We just need a sport that seems appropriate (and safe) to the genre and the use of super-powers. This could be really a fun concept, especially with the possibility of the super-sports-team occaisionally helping out the Campus Safety team.

Anyone have a super-sports idea?

[Rage]

Originally posted by BarryB
Clearly we need rules for superhero football or baseball.

I did a 4th ed conversion for blood bowl...

[Mutant for Hire]

Originally posted by Rage
I did a 4th ed conversion for blood bowl...

Ooh! I want to see that.

[MoonHunter]

This only works if Paranormals are an accepted part of society and allowed other nitches than crimefighting.

Most super worlds have the metas as somewhat accepted by the populous. Everyone wants to have a paranormal around durring a disaster or crime, but nobody wants to live next to one (the occasional fight, the odd effects that occur around them, etc). Yet there are worlds where Metas are grudgingly accepted, and only when they are dealing with other meta threats or crisis beyond normal expectations. Yet other worlds, people actively hate the Metas (marvel mutants). So a school team would only work in very few worlds.

People would feel more comfortable with their paranormals as crime fighters in colorful costumes. That is the role they expect them to have. They would be wary of those not following the expected rules (You're an accountant and you have ice powers? Umm. okay. Why aren't you fighting crime?) (Or Oh you are stunt man.. okay)

I don't know about you, but I would not feel safe that a corporation had a group under its control that had more firepower than a military division. Do you think others are going to feel safe? If they don't feel safe, will legislators do something about it? Lets not even think about corporate espionage and insurance events.

Corporate sponsorship for a super team would be along the lines of a charitable event, like A sporting event or an art and wine festival. It is all done for the community good will and publicity. And if the team does a "booboo" and gets bad press, your corporation will get dragged through the mud as a sponsor. It would be a balancing trick.

This brings us back to a campus team. Meta college students are just as likely to being villains at one point as they are heroes. And think about the PR backlash if the public found out they got their initial training from the college? Say goodbye to alumni and federal funds...

Now the campus meta team might be something they could set up on the sly. Just like governments and corps might. Schools would be trading scholarships for their help in providing security and for testing their meta abilities.

By the way, this is a good thread. Thank you for pulling it over.

[Peregrine]

Originally posted by BlackCobra
I think you guys are talking two different kinds of things here -- sports-supers and actual superhero teams. One's job is largely entertainment (play games) and the other is largely protective (stop supervillains/crime). If, as MfH's original premise goes, super powers show up regularly on campus (see his post for reasons) and you can expect a certain level of supervillains to show up, you need a protective team. One that's probably at least lead by a full-time professional, if not entirely staffed by professionals (Campus Super-Safety, anyone?). I can see these teams having student members, particularly at the smaller colleges, but at the bigger Universities, I would imagine they're all staffed by professional supers.

If you had a super-hero level game that a superhero team could compete in (super-football, super-soccer, I don't know), then you have the direct parallel with regular sports teams. We just need a sport that seems appropriate (and safe) to the genre and the use of super-powers. This could be really a fun concept, especially with the possibility of the super-sports-team occaisionally helping out the Campus Safety team.

Anyone have a super-sports idea?

Given the highly individualistic nature of powers, it's unlikely that any sort of team sports competition would be practical. Considering real-world sports, the only thing that comes to mind is:

Track and field: Bricks would dominate throwing events, speedsters would dominate running events, and it would be an interesting competition between the two types in jumping events.

And again, unless there's a progression to post-collegiate athletics, I see no incentive to create such teams and hold such events on an ongoing basis.

[BlackCobra]

Ah, you're missing it.

There've been examples of this in the comics and elsewhere, none that I recall, of course, but I'll try a vague sense of what I'm talking about here.

If you want to have a sport where super-powers (of whatever variety) are allowed (indeed, expected), you just need some basic ground-rules to keep the competition interesting.

For instance, say the game is a pumped-up version of sooccer. Positions and normal rules don't matter that much -- just the basics: ball, goals, other team.

So, say the rules are:

1. No powers can be used on the ball itself. This means that players have to pick it up, or kick it, or whatever, to make a goal.

2. No permanent or invasive harm to the other players. So, dazing your opponent with an ego-whammy is ok, but mind controlling him to make a goal for you isn't.

3. No use of powers can harm the audience.

4. No permanent property damage.

That still allows a lot of leeway in terms of what powers can be used, and consequently what kind of supers would be on these teams. Over time, certain strategies would give rise to standard positions on the team. There'd probably be a speedster on every team just to cover they other guys use of one. Think Quidditch.

There'd even be room on the teams for very talented "normals", much as there are on super-hero teams, because of the skills and abilities they have. Especially team captains.

I could really see a major-league sport made out of that, if there's a large enough super-powered population.

Heck, most campains seem to be set in a world where super-heroes are relatively recent things -- but what would such a world look like in 20 or 30 years? When super-heroes become so well accepted into society that they're just another brand of celebrity (but more akin to heroes than pop-stars).

[Mark Rand]

Schools with animal mascots could try and recrute supers that could shape shift into that animal or, if possible, an animal-human hybred.
Being a University of Pittsburgh staff member, I think having a super that could shift into either panther or a panther/human cross would be interesting.
For those who aren't familiar with this cat, Pitt's panther is also known as the cougar, puma, mountain lion and more than 30 other names.

[Space Cadet]

Originally posted by BarryB
Every game is won due to sickness on the part of the opposing team. Mental illness, to be precise. :)

Oh, yeah... especially if the opposing team's playbook is some-
how replaced with a copy of the Necronomicon.

Space Cadet :D

[Supreme Serpent]

Make it a collaboration among major universities...maybe call the team "The Big Ten"

And their villainous nemesis is the NCAA - "National Council for the Advancement of Anarchy"

[Dog Soldier]

On a grimmer note, could supers be recruited for 'study'? They would probably form a loose association and possibly have their own dorms.