When did superpowers occur?

[IndianaJoe3]

The ranges are deliberately vague. Feel free to explain your choice in the comments.

 

I'm going with modern because it allows the world to feel familiar, without requiring explanation of why all these super-gadgets and strange powers haven't greatly affected history. 

[death tribble]

I tend to go with Modern but it is also the case of how. Spontaneous mutations ? Yes. The Gestalt waves as it is stated in the Gestalt book. Then there is the good old alien intervention/manipulation and Weird Science.

[Tom Cowan]

I go with small 'waves' all the way back to prehistory.  The last three 'waves' have come in the 90 years, and stacked on each one and have hit all the world.  The past norm was one at a time with 250 to 1000 or more years between them over only a small area, say only middle east.

[pbemguy]

Whoops. I voted 'Modern' but I meant to vote 'Recent.' I usually set my campaigns where superpowers are new developments.

[Mark Rand]

I voted historic because of The Pulps.  The first superheroes were the mystery men and women.

[pbemguy]

17 minutes ago, Mark Rand said:

I voted historic because of The Pulps.  The first superheroes were the mystery men and women.

 

I usually make it so superpowers are a new thing, manifesting as the campaign started or only a few years old phenomenon.

 

But I often have pulp superheroes as part of the world's history, but without superpowers. Fedora-wearin', mask-sportin', gun-totin' superheroes.

[Tjack]

  I like a mix of the first two. Naturally occurring heroes whether from Magic, Godly intervention, Mutation or Alien influences were extremely rare before the 1900’s slowly picking up due to Social Pressures caused by the first World War On one hand and the increase of radiation in the atmosphere due to early experimtation.

[Spence]

None of the selections work. 

I like to have the powers be very rare and manifest within a decade of the game start.

 

1935?  The first meta's occur around 1925.

 

2020? The first meta's occur around 2010.

[DusterBoy]

Choosing the first “modern” option was actually a spur of the moment thing, because I started to thinKing of a scenario where the first superheroes with verifiable “powers beyond mortal ken” appeared a little over two generations ago (the late 60s).

[pbemguy]

I think we should look at the poll results but try to incorporate as many ideas from this thread that don't contradict.

[steriaca]

I chosen the ancient option, cause I love truth in myths and stories. Also, demons, very old ones, etc.

[phydaux]

I had a PC that traced his lineage back to the French Revolution:

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Zoro - Lone Ranger - Green Hornet (Golden Age) - Shadowhunter I (Silver Age, DNPC) - Shadowhunter II (my PC, Bronze Age)

[archer]

I picked prehistoric.

 

We may not have them all listed in the historical record, but there's always been some number of extra-ordinary people on the planet: Gilgamesh, Hercules, Qin Shi Huang, Kahn, Robin Hood, John Hawkwood, etc. Some have been overtly heroes. Some have deliberately been villainous or used their power to gain control of countries and armies. Others have tried to either live a normal life or tried to use their powers quietly for the benefit of themselves and their close friends.

 

A phydaux pointed out, the first actual costumed adventurers who are widely recorded and remembered were those like the Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro. The first sizable number of masked mystery men in the US emerged in the 1920's and 1930's seemingly in response to the rise of organized crime and the exploits of heavily armed and violent criminals such as Bonnie and Clyde.

 

There's certainly been a seemingly ever-increasing number of people with genuine superpowers in recent decades making themselves known to the public. Experts differ on whether that is due only to the rapidly increasing world population plus an increasing acceptance from society of people openly using superpowers or whether the rate of incidence of people obtaining superpowers is rapidly increasing as well.

[Scott Ruggels]

I’d think that superpowers may have always been with us, in fiction, but since Champions focuses on Comic book tropes and gaming, then for the Wikia to be useful for most Comics gaming fans, then, Superpowers should be common public knowledge from 1938, with nods to limited powers from earlier years like, The Shadow, Doc Savage, and the like. 

[pbemguy]

1 hour ago, Scott Ruggels said:

I’d think that superpowers may have always been with us, in fiction, but since Champions focuses on Comic book tropes and gaming, then for the Wikia to be useful for most Comics gaming fans, then, Superpowers should be common public knowledge from 1938, with nods to limited powers from earlier years like, The Shadow, Doc Savage, and the like. 

 

I like this. And it also looks like this is where the poll is taking us.

[Greywind]

Last night.

[archer]

7 hours ago, Greywind said:

Last night.

 

Wait...so being a bit gassy is my new superpower???

[Greywind]

I dub thee The Spleen.

[DusterBoy]

On 7/14/2020 at 12:29 AM, phydaux said:

I had a PC that traced his lineage back to the French Revolution:

 

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Zoro - Lone Ranger - Green Hornet (Golden Age) - Shadowhunter I (Silver Age, DNPC) - Shadowhunter II (my PC, Bronze Age)

Phydaux - is Shadowhunter your own PC? I tried Googling it, but the results I got were hits that weren’t appropriate at all.

[Greywind]

I also use a Shadowhunter.

[Badger]

Generally sporadically through history, but much more often and increasingly powerful as population as exploded.

 

For a galactic or universal view, it has flowed and ebbed, depending on where and when you are or had been.