Paranormal-Teen HERO

[Supreme]

Ever watch "Smallville," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," or "Roswell?" Seems to me that this is a nascent sub-genre that needs a little attention. The idea's a little kooky, but effective and identifiable. There's a humble, little town somewhere where things go bump in the night more than other places in the world. These bumping things are something which the authorities are incapable of dealing with so it falls to a single teen, or small group thereof, with extraordinary abilities to deal with this recurring paranormal threat. Granted, in the TV shows there's usually only one paranormal teen, so in a game you may want to make that a small group of teens with paranormal-related powers.

There are other distinct aspects of this sub-genre. First, the basis for the paranormal teens' abilities is always directly related to the paranormal threat. On "Buffy" the Hellmouth which resides beneath Sunnydale draws the slayer-protagonist towards it, just as it draws vampires, demons, and everything else. Another aspect is that the paranormal dangers facing the teens are always allegories for various teen issues (abuse, sexual tension, drugs, etc.).

So let's talk about this!

[Hermit]

It is almost like Xavier Academy minus the facility somedays isn't it?

Cool thread idea though. It might be kind of fun to expand on. I particularly like your idea of the antagonists being symbolic of RL issues the youth have to face.

One thing I've noticed that whether it be a group or a single individual, most of these settings have one buddy or part of the team that is the "everyman". Xander Harris in Buffy, Pete in Smallville; they are normal guys backing the main hero. Might be tricky in a game situation to balance out this with the paranormal sorts.

[misterdeath]

First, welcome back Supreme.

Second, it's best if the allegories are more subtle than just the old "Magic equals Drug Addiction" hammer of the past couple of seasons of Buffy.

The invisible girl and the alienation of the teens from society is a much better model.

The normal guy is a good archetype. In a point based game system normal guy ends up with a lot of points of nothing. My normal guy had resources (not stuff, more contacts "Uncle Albert, Uncle Mike, Aunt Dana", seems like he was related to half the people in the country.

D

[MisterVimes]

I think you are on to something here. The subgenre of 'Teen Hero' is actually more imitative of Gaming groups themselves. Instead of the single hero with a score of NPCs and DNPCs, you have a group of Characters that evolve i their own right. (I'm thinking Buffy more than Smallville).

In the beginning, you have the Hero (Buffy) and a group of neophytes. As the seasons go by, Giles is revealed to be a genuine Bada$$, Willow becomes a more and more powerful Witch, Cordelia (who goes to Angel to gain her own set of powers) is replaced by the Ex-Demon Anya, etc.

This is classic Experience points at work. This is something we haven't seen in comics since Sue Richards learned she could do more than become invisible.

[Hermit]

I begin to think Xander has spent a lot of points in Luck, and Combat Luck

Well, the Luck seems not to apply to his love life...

[misterdeath]

Poor old Xander,

Hunted by Demon Chick of the Week 14-.

Surest way for us to know that the female was up to no good/had supernatural powers, she showed interest in Xander.

D

[MisterVimes]

Originally posted by Hermit
I begin to think Xander has spent a lot of points in Luck, and Combat Luck

Well, the Luck seems not to apply to his love life...

Let's not forget the HUGE number of points he spent in PS: Carpenter

[TheEmerged]

I've planned a "sublet" of this for the NeoChampion Universe. The hometown of the first Nova (Hyperion -- yes, the founder of Sanctuary) has since become a hotbed of low-end superpowers (I'm talking 200 point supers in a campaign where the PC's started with 400). Given that around 1 in 100,000 people in the US erupted into novas cf Champions Universe pg 31), on Michtendorf Island there are around 30 in a population of abou 50,000.

It's a hotbed of weirdness, especially because a high percentage of those have chosen to keep their nova-ness secret due to the harshness of the Nova Registration Act in my campaign.

[Supreme]

Thanks for the feedback and welcome backs, fellas.

Personally, I'd either interpret Xander as a follower, or as the guy who has all the useful non-combat skills -- and yes, luck. Let's face it Xander has consistently, more than any other character, has been there to pull Buffy's fat out of the fire more than once.

The Master drowns Buffy: Xander performs mouth-to-mouth (an experience that I'd trade 100 points of powers for)

Buffy and Giles are ambushed by Chumash Vengeance spirits: Xander comes to the rescue. Okay, Willow, Angel, and Anya were there too, but Xander had friggin' smallpox and syphillus when he did it.

Buffy runs out of tricks for taking on Glory: "And the glorified brick-layer picks up the spare."

And yes, the metaphors should be as sophisticated as you can manage. In the current campaign...

COMETEER, I EXPECT YOU TO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT!

My current campaign is called "Kick Me". It's about a demon that takes the form of a sign stuck to someone's back. Whoever gets the sign stuck to their back is cursed by having everyone who is around them for longer than 30 minutes to make increasingly difficult EGO rolls to keep from kicking (or otherwise abusing) them. Eventually they either die - or pass the curse along by sticking the sign to someone else.

On of my players found the current victim of the sign being beaten by some other kids. He hung out with him for 30 minutes and failed his very first EGO roll. He hit the kid. So that kid stuck the sign to his back. The player's been getting kicked ever since. That was last session. Next session the sign's going to reappear in his notebook. We'll see what he does. I see it as not just being about social exclusion, but about how willing we are to exclude others to be re-included. A fact about ourselves that we're not always so proud of.

[OneSmallGod]

This has been much on my mind. First, my teen-supers game has always lived near this sort of narrative space (low-powered paranormals, etc - thinking about running one which is stricly mystically-powered teens, a cross between Xaviers' and Hogwarts). Second, I bought the Buffy RPG on a lark and I'm looking to run that, too. (Supreme, I hope you don't mind if I steal that "Kick Me" storyline - very nice!)

Another cool source out there would be J. Michael Stryzynski's "Rising Stars" graphic novels - a "flash" incident occured in a small Illinois town, and it was discovered later than any kids who were in utero when it happened have been gifted with a range of powers from the minor to the difficult to the cataclysmic. I highly recommend it!

An interesting thought - ask the players to make up Normal kids (point levels entirely to your taste, but they need to rigorously justify any unusual abilities). Then, make a number of 'powersets' equal to the number of characters and have everyone pick a sealed envelope containing their power-set. If the evil in town has a common source, perhaps a force for good has decided to move in and clean it up. And when the evil's been vanquished, the kids' amazing abilities will go away too...

If they discover this before the denoument, wouldn't it make interesting roleplaying for the kids to have to choose - vanquish evil, or remain a hero? Perhaps these kids have been empowered because the last set of champions which the power of good selected made the other choice... They fought each other, decided to keep the power which had been loaned to them, and left town to become superstars in the outside world.

Hmmmm?

[Supreme]

Originally posted by OneSmallGod
Supreme, I hope you don't mind if I steal that "Kick Me" storyline - very nice!

You're Welcome Supreme. And thanks.

Another cool source out there would be J. Michael Stryzynski's "Rising Stars" graphic novels...

I read that and felt Disappointment Supreme. I felt it was FULL of cliches and a central character who was so self-indulgent and obnoxious I wanted to jump into the comic and beat him senseless myself. Maybe if I reconfigure Optilux's ray gun...

[MisterVimes]

I mentioned this on Supreme's Vampire thread, but I thought the subscribers to this thread would be interested:

From IMDB.com

Have Faith in 'Buffy'

Buffy The Vampire Slayer will live on after star Sarah Michelle Gellar quits at the end of the season - her replacement has been chosen from amongst the current cast. Eliza Dushku, who plays Faith, is now to become the central character in the supernatural show, enabling Gellar to return for the occasional cameo.

[Chris Goodwin]

BEGIN COMETEER SPOILER SPACE... DON'T READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU ARE COMETEER

Originally posted by OneSmallGod
This has been much on my mind. First, my teen-supers game has always lived near this sort of narrative space (low-powered paranormals, etc - thinking about running one which is stricly mystically-powered teens, a cross between Xaviers' and Hogwarts). Second, I bought the Buffy RPG on a lark and I'm looking to run that, too. (Supreme, I hope you don't mind if I steal that "Kick Me" storyline - very nice!)

Make it an "F*** With Me" sign. People kick him, but they also fill his locker with shaving cream, pants him in front of the entire school, and the like.

END COMETEER SPOILER SPACE

An interesting thought - ask the players to make up Normal kids (point levels entirely to your taste, but they need to rigorously justify any unusual abilities). Then, make a number of 'powersets' equal to the number of characters and have everyone pick a sealed envelope containing their power-set. If the evil in town has a common source, perhaps a force for good has decided to move in and clean it up. And when the evil's been vanquished, the kids' amazing abilities will go away too...

Give 'em each two envelopes. Let each one open one envelope. If they don't like the set in this envelope they can open the second, but if they do they have to take what's in the second one. Make sure they're not similar power sets (i.e. martial artist and mentalist, brick and energy projector, etc.) so someone doesn't feel screwed.

[Warp9]

I have been considering running a Roswell type of game. However, I don't necessarily want everybody to be an alien. And there are some issues concerning the balancing of the paranormals with the mundane characters. It may not be hard to balance a paranormal with somebody like Bruce Wayne, but when considering normal teenagers, that poses a problem.

Also, the game I have in mind would often focus on the normal lives of the characters, rather than the combat with paranormal forces. I am concerned that some Players would lose interest in such a game.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Warp9
I have been considering running a Roswell type of game. However, I don't necessarily want everybody to be an alien. And there are some issues concerning the balancing of the paranormals with the mundane characters. It may not be hard to balance a paranormal with somebody like Bruce Wayne, but when considering normal teenagers, that poses a problem.

Also, the game I have in mind would often focus on the normal lives of the characters, rather than the combat with paranormal forces. I am concerned that some Players would lose interest in such a game.

They don't all have to be aliens. Some teenaged athletes have fairly amazing abilities. Then there's always things like psychics, or people altered by alien technology. Perhaps one of the kids' parents are secretly participating in a government program, and are putting recombinant DNA thingies in their food.