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Readjustment Pains


Asperion

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Suppose that we have a society that is similar to reality, no mutants, aliens, power armored heroes/villains. Everyone/everything operates in the same manner that people expect it to in the real world. Now something happens that causes random people to form mutations and develop powers according to the conventional superverse. Obviously at first there will be no laws, groups similar to Viper and PRIMUS or power armored beings. I am wondering how long it would take for such groups to develop and super advanced technology to appear. In addition, how long would it take for governments to step in and tell people what to do and in what order. In what order would things happen?

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I think the DC Cinematic Universe is a pretty good template for this.  The government reaction to Superman in 'Man of Steel' is about as 'real world' as it can get compared to the helicarriers in the MCU. BVS and Suicide Squad establish a small amount of pre-Superman history but it's all in the shadows.

 

HM

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Suppose that we have a society that is similar to reality, no mutants, aliens, power armored heroes/villains. Everyone/everything operates in the same manner that people expect it to in the real world. Now something happens that causes random people to form mutations and develop powers according to the conventional superverse. Obviously at first there will be no laws, groups similar to Viper and PRIMUS or power armored beings. I am wondering how long it would take for such groups to develop and super advanced technology to appear. In addition, how long would it take for governments to step in and tell people what to do and in what order. In what order would things happen?

We talking WWII or post 911? That shapes a lot right there.  20 or 30 years ago I'd say it might take a while see powered armor. Now I'd expect an apollo style program to have something in 5 if not less.

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I'm afraid I can only be very general given the lack of specifics. For instance the something happens, is it known or unkown? Worldwide? The response will be a bit differenet if the something is a meteor smashes into a small town causing some residents to feel strange and gain powers, as opposed to no one knowing about these people until cell phone footage of a guy shrugging off bullets from armored car guards until another guy blasts him with lighting hits the web. Also how many will greatly effect things. If there are 10, 000 a Primus group might form pretty quickly. If there are 10 it might never form.  


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I recommend this book series as an excellent take on the supers genre and aspects of settings 

 

http://www.wearingthecape.com/

 

The first book deals with the origin of supers and the adaptations made by society.

 

The second deals with how the criminal underworld is adapting.

 

The third deals with training and developing young supers.

 

The fourth shows how the government and military is coping.

 

The fifth gives an example of how other countries deal with their super populations.

 

It's YA reading but gives a good basis for building a universe. An RPG is in the works but using the FATE system. I'll going buy it and adapt it to HERO because I like the setting that much.

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Suppose that we have a society that is similar to reality, no mutants, aliens, power armored heroes/villains. Everyone/everything operates in the same manner that people expect it to in the real world. Now something happens that causes random people to form mutations and develop powers according to the conventional superverse. Obviously at first there will be no laws, groups similar to Viper and PRIMUS or power armored beings. I am wondering how long it would take for such groups to develop and super advanced technology to appear. In addition, how long would it take for governments to step in and tell people what to do and in what order. In what order would things happen?

Grrl Power has a storyline somewhat like that. However Superhuman activity was concealed by "The Veil" (yes they call it that), maintained by various supernatural groups. And the alien visitors.

Superhumans just got outed (by the Government). Aliens might happen later. But the other groups prefer to stay under the veil, with approval of the Government:

http://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2250

 

About "how long until supertech":

However long you want. Tony Stark Level intelligence is a much a Superhero trait as Thors Hammer*. Thier breakthroughs transcend even the likes of Leonardo DaVinci or Archimedes (unless there is a hidden super-history to them too).

Stark and Hydra tech is usually based on a few genuises that managed to "dumb it down" for mass production. But actually improoving ore replicating it can only be done by a few equal level geniuses.

 

 

*Indeed in Avengers, Earth Mighties Heroes, Episode "Powerless" Tony got moved into his "Mark 1" suit. And lost his ability to understand how the suit works. Turns out, it was not intuitive at all:

http://kisscartoon.me/Cartoon/The-Avengers-Earth-s-Mightiest-Heroes/Season-2-Episode-015-Powerless?id=8130

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I've said it before and I will say it again, what is the source of powers or triggering event?

What is the nature of the powers?

 

  • Magic
  • Science based
  • Psionic
  • Biological
  • Technological

Answer those questions and a lot of the squares get filled in.

Is it something human science can understand , manipulate, and replicate?

 

Start with that.  Figure out why or at least how it happens and work from there.

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Politics is typically more reactive than proactive, and is mainly driven by public perception. So the pace at which laws, etc would change is going to depend on how scared the public is:

  • Is it instantly well known that superpowers are now a thing? Or is there a period of Urban Legend and We Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny...?
  • How quickly do people with powers emerge? If it's only a couple at first, the reaction is going to depends largely on how those individuals present themselves. But if you go from zero to hundreds overnight, that's going to scare a lot of people.
  • How active are people with superpowers? If they're relatively few and/or they mostly keep a low profile, then there'll be more time for debates over civil liberties, etc. But if supers are smashing up Manhattan on a weekly basis, you'll get some sort of Patriot Act-esque response within weeks-to-months, tho the implications of that response will likely take years to sort out.
  • How common are supervillains compared to superheroes? And which came first? If you start out with Classic Superman rescuing kittens out of trees and so forth, and supervillains only show up later, that will drive one sort of response: people may still mistrust the heroes and seek to limit them, but ironically there may be less rush to do so. But if the first people know about supers is Grond smashing up NYC, then the government response will likely be quicker, but when heroes show up they may(?) be seen more as part of the solution than the problem. (Especially if conventional forces have been shown to be painfully inadequate.)
  • What power level are we talking about? Captain America is one thing. Superman is a whole `nother matter.
  • Meanwhile, each Federal agency from DHS to DOJ to etc would organize their own office to address the new threat/challenge/opportunity/whatever that supers represent. Expect a lot of duplication and not a lot of coordination, at least initially; if the perceived need is high, a decisive President could easily issue an XO centralizing all authority for metahuman affairs under a new DHS Undersecretary or whatever.
  • As far as forming new organizations like PRIMUS/UNTIL, that won't happen overnight. More likely the FBI organizes a series of interagency task forces modeled on the Joint Terrorism Task Forces. Only after a year or two if folks felt that approach wasn't working would there be talk of building a completely new organization, and it would take years more to appropriate funds, recruit and train personnel, etc.
  • As for Super Advanced Tech being developed, it depends on if Stark Brain is something that people get as a result of whatever caused powers - in other words, the ability to develop super tech is itself a super power. In that case, it develops as fast as you want it to based on how fast other powers are developing. But if Advanced Tech continues to follow the laws of our world, then power armor isn't suddenly going to become technologically feasible (or affordable) just because Bob now has laser eyes.

Of course that's all skewing towards realism; in comics, and indeed in most genres lit, things move much faster. So really it can happen as fast or as slow as the game requires.

 

Overall I think it's safe to say that the sudden emergence of superpowers in 2016 would be greeted VERY differently than if it had happened in say 1956. Tho people have less trust in government today, ironically I think you'd be more likely to see demand for government certification, training, and control of supers, rather than more traditional independent heroes and teams.

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Bigdamhero had a good dissertation about the way things could go if powers were to suddenly appear. I was thinking of making a first run campaign where a comet travels close to the orbit of Earth (approx half a million miles) and gives off a strange energy reading that is later termed "anti-gama". These anti-gama have little to no immediate effect. About a year afterward, people start showing strange abilities, nothing exceptionally powerful, most would be about the level of the heroic from the book. Some though will develop extreme power, what the PCs are going to be operating at. There will be an extremely few that operate at a much higher level. I had wondered if I was thinking of making the world adjust to these changes in the correct manner.

 

What was the catalyst that caused your world to change and when? How long was the readjustment period and how did people respond to those people who could do far more than most humans are capable of?

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