Background Cliches

[Fenixcrest]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Mysterious glowing stones that give off an incomprehensible radiation field, often triggering superpower manifestation. Kryptonite, Kelvarite, etc.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Guilty as charged myself.

 

 

Here's one: Atlantis is real, sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and is populated with aquaman-style amphibious humans.

I'll add... that worship Triton.

 

In which case, I'm guilty.

[nexus]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Agencies that straddle the line between terrorist groups and organized crime and have a seeming obession with a particular motif. So much so that they run it into the ground using it for their squad types, uniforms, supers, vehicles, everything. Their name is often an ancronym. These agencies will often have apparently endless access to extremely high tech arms and armor while the police and conventional military forces of the world use standard issue hardware at almost all times. Many times these groups will be deemed to be such threat a unique internationl intelligence and/or law enforcement force will be formed almost specifically to deal with them.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Background Cliches

 

King Shardik brought down the killing blow from his sword onto a powerful demon as the demon ripped his very soul from his body. The soul tried to infuse itself back to its body but because King Shardik has placed all of his magic into his sword, it grabbed the wrong body. Thus the Sword Shardik was born.

 

I don't recall seeing that origin story before.

[winterhawk]

Background Cliche by Comics Age

 

Each comics age seems to have common origin trigger based on the cutting edge science of the time:

 

Golden Age - Chemicals: Jay Garrick Flash, Hourman, The Human Bomb, Captain America, The Joker

 

Silver Age - Atomic Energy: Spider-Man, The Hulk, Captain Atom

 

Bronze Age - Gentics: The X-Men (I know they got their start in the SA, but this is when they became a phenonmenon)

 

Iron Age - Nanotech: The Engineer from The Authority (I don't read much 'true' Iron Age stuff, so this is the only example I got)

[Enforcer84]

Re: Background Cliche by Comics Age

 

Character comes from a city of intelligent animals.

[OddHat]

Re: Background Cliches

 

All powers come from a guy named Dave.

[Brandi]

Re: Background Cliche by Comics Age

 

Silver Age - Atomic Energy

Bronze Age - Gentics

Iron Age - Nanotech

 

Strangely enough, the movie version of the Hulk combines all three.

[Guest rbezold]

Re: Background Cliches

 

But I LIKE background cliches! I couldn't run a cornball/tongue-in-cheek golden age campaign without them!

[Red Knight]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Personally, I like some of the characters from Astro City...

 

Samaritan... A normal guy that was sent back in time to avert a major, humanity smashing event. The process of sending him back super-charged him and made him Superm...err...Samaritan.

 

The Confessor.... a Vampire trying to atone for his sins.... so he dressed up in priestly attire and has a big cross on his chest. The pain of the cross kept him on the straight and narrow.

 

Interesting ideas if you ask me...

 

Of course.... the fall into the cliche catagories too.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Cliche'd backgrounds? How about a street corner with Rosie's Bar on one end?

[The Watcher]

Some minor corrections

 

Warp -- gets along with /his/ father (Franklin Stone of Advanced Concepts Industries) about as well as Cyrande gets along with hers. His mother died in the Battle of Detroit. His uncle Steven Barlowe' date=' his mother's brother, is his former legal guardian and trusted advisor. Uncle Steve is a DNPC, his father is a Contact.[/quote']

Actually, Uncle Steve wasn't Warp's legal guardian, just the executor of his mother's will and estate, who basically kept Warp's inheritance in trust until he was eighteen and kept it out of his father's hands. He's also not a DNPC but a Contact instead.

 

Oh, and not only is Warp's father a Contact, but he's a Hunted (Watching Only) as well.

[Metaphysician]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Personally, I like some of the characters from Astro City...

 

Samaritan... A normal guy that was sent back in time to avert a major, humanity smashing event. The process of sending him back super-charged him and made him Superm...err...Samaritan.

 

The Confessor.... a Vampire trying to atone for his sins.... so he dressed up in priestly attire and has a big cross on his chest. The pain of the cross kept him on the straight and narrow.

 

Interesting ideas if you ask me...

 

Of course.... the fall into the cliche catagories too.

 

They, but they also add new and interesting elements.

 

Then again, Astro City = good, more or less by definition.

[JmOz]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Orson Welles famous 1938 Halloween hoax is real - alien invaders genuinely did land at Grovers Mill. The superheroes that arrive separately to repel this invasion form a superteam. This is used in CU and also independently by Big Willy' date=' the GM of our Golden Age Golden Heroes campaign. And in this random bloke's superhero universe that I just googled. Three's a bit too many for my liking. I'm calling cliche.

 

 

Not my world: They landed in england about 50 years earlier...

[JmOz]

Re: Background Cliches

 

I'll add... that worship Triton.

 

In which case, I'm guilty.

 

Or Neptune/Posseiden

[Lightray]

Or Neptune/Posseiden

Or Oceanus & Tethys.

[Moody Loner]

Re: Background Cliches

 

All powers come from a guy named Dave.

 

Okay, I'll bite:

 

Dave

 

Player:

 

Val	Char	Cost
10	STR	0
10	DEX	0
10	CON	0
10	BODY	0
10	INT	0
10	EGO	0
10	PRE	0
10	COM	0
2	PD	0
2	ED	0
2	SPD	0
4	REC	0
20	END	0
20	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM02" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 0

 

Cost	Power	END
237	Source of All Power: Major Transform 30d6 (Normal to Random Super, Death of Dave, "Anti-Dave".), Inherent (+1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), IPE, Source Only (Fully Invisible; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), AOE (180" Radius; +1), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1) (2250 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Season (-3 1/2), NCC (-2), Activation 8- (-2), Always On (-1/2), All Or Nothing (-1/2)	[1]
13	LS (Longevity: 800 Years; Safe Environment: Zero Gravity; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum)	0

Powers Cost: 250

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Character Cost: 250

 

Val	Disadvantages
20	Normal Characteristic Maxima
5	Physical Limitation: Cant carry a tune in a bucket (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
5	Physical Limitation: Flat Feet and sinus headaches (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
5	Physical Limitation: Nearsighted[Needs Corrective Lenses] (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
15	Psychological Limitation: Doesnt Hurry (Very Common, Moderate)

Disadvantage Points: 50

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

No background yet, it's late.

 

Do you think 30d6 is enough?

[OddHat]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Okay, I'll bite:

 

Dave

 

Player:

 

Val	Char	Cost
10	STR	0
10	DEX	0
10	CON	0
10	BODY	0
10	INT	0
10	EGO	0
10	PRE	0
10	COM	0
2	PD	0
2	ED	0
2	SPD	0
4	REC	0
20	END	0
20	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM02" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 0

 

Cost	Power	END
237	Source of All Power: Major Transform 30d6 (Normal to Random Super, Death of Dave, "Anti-Dave".), Inherent (+1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), IPE, Source Only (Fully Invisible; +1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), AOE (180" Radius; +1), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1) (2250 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Season (-3 1/2), NCC (-2), Activation 8- (-2), Always On (-1/2), All Or Nothing (-1/2)	[1]
13	LS (Longevity: 800 Years; Safe Environment: Zero Gravity; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum)	0

Powers Cost: 250

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Character Cost: 250

 

Val	Disadvantages
20	Normal Characteristic Maxima
5	Physical Limitation: Cant carry a tune in a bucket (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
5	Physical Limitation: Flat Feet and sinus headaches (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
5	Physical Limitation: Nearsighted[Needs Corrective Lenses] (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
15	Psychological Limitation: Doesnt Hurry (Very Common, Moderate)

Disadvantage Points: 50

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

No background yet, it's late.

 

Do you think 30d6 is enough?

 

 

And thus a New Universe is born.

[Supreme]

Re: Background Cliches

 

"All powers come from a guy named Dave."

 

Yeah, the "all powers come from ___" background is another one (getting ready for the thread to get derailed into the unified origins vs diverse origins argument). All powers come from a mutative, recessive gene or from some super-substance (years before Smallville someone I know wrote a campaign in which all powers come from Kryptonite mutations).

[death tribble]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Gaining powers through radiation exposure

Yes been there, done that

6. The government is running a top-secret super-soldier program. Which produces one (or more) PC heroes and one (or more) NPC villains.

Yes and it usually fails. Algernon files (M+M) has this as well

14. Powers from Genetic Mutation manifesting during adolescence.

Yes. Stary Cats and Darklight/Electralite in the Protectors

#18: You'd rather work 60 hours a week at a stressful job than actually earn millions in a sport or industry where your power is valued. Bonus: Despite having a full time job' date=' you are able to disapear at any time of day to deal with Evil, and even if you spend weeks on Alien worlds your boss would never dream of firing your unreliable arse[/quote']

Went into space and then got fired. Had to get new job. Eventually became liaison to Superteam for Govt.

Here's one: Atlantis is real' date=' sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and is populated with aquaman-style amphibious humans.[/quote']

Yes. Dreadnought was Namor

2. Top Nazis were occultists/mages.

 

3. Islamic countries, and/or China, tend to kill their mutants/metahumans/paranormals.

Hexenmeister had the Spear of Destiny which was the spear used against Christ on the cross.

Africa did this.

X+1) Supervillain teams with a common origin develop "theme" powers. You rarely see a group of 4 villains with identical powers' date=' but how many times is there 1 earth guy, 1 fire guy, 1 water guy, and 1 air guy?[/quote']

Heroes and villains

Agencies that straddle the line between terrorist groups and organized crime and have a seeming obession with a particular motif. So much so that they run it into the ground using it for their squad types' date=' uniforms, supers, vehicles, everything. Their name is often an ancronym. These agencies will often have apparently endless access to extremely high tech arms and armor while the police and conventional military forces of the world use standard issue hardware at almost all times. Many times these groups will be deemed to be such threat a unique internationl intelligence and/or law enforcement force will be formed almost specifically to deal with them.[/quote']

Cobra and Viper and the ITF and Shatter.

 

We had an anti-mutant one as well.

[starblaze]

Re: Background Cliches

 

Captain America is an anti-hero who defected? Did I miss an issue?

 

(Edit -- not to mention, in the 5th edition CU, all but one of the PRIMUS Silver Avengers...)

 

There was a story arc in Captain America where a secret government program claimed that they were behind the super soldier project that created CA. They demanded that either he work directly for them or give up the identity of Captain America. Steve Rogers decided not to work for them and actually turned in his shield and suit.

 

The program in question then recruited John Walker to be the new Captian America but he turned out to be mentally unbalanced after awhile and Steve eventually took back his mantle.

[Chuckg]

Re: Background Cliches

 

And it was all a lie and the Red Skull was secretly behind the whole thing, thanks to a few paid-off government bureaucrats who were put up to making the claim. (As per CAPTAIN AMERICA #350).

[starblaze]

Re: Background Cliches

 

> Immediately following this arc, he abandons the costume, calls himself Nomad,

> and wanders the land like Kane from Kung Fu. How much more anti hero do

> you want?

 

He never changed his moral standards or methods in the slightest -- he just got a new costume and took a trip to find himself. I don't call that 'anti-hero'. Anti-heroes are guys like Wolverine and the (early) Punisher.(*)

 

 

 

(*) The current Ennis Punisher isn't even an anti-hero anymore, he's just a psychopath.

 

Yes, but he's fun!

[st barbara]

Re: Background Cliches

 

To "Whitewings" I could say that "St Barbara" is a MINOR exhibitionist, but as she is over 18 I suppose that she isn't a minor. (Although in SOME parts of the world she still couldn't vote, which could classify her as a minor !)

[Samuraiko]

Re: Background Cliches

 

9. Even if they don't need therapy' date=' most of them have some kind of serious trauma attached to their origins.[/quote']

 

"I always think it adds resonance to a hero's mission to have some defining element of tragedy in his background, don't you?" - Joker to Batman, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

 

 

So true, so true...

 

Ironically enough, the same event both started my PC on that path to superhero-dom and turned her twin sister into a Villain of icky proportions.

 

How about most female characters in most rpgs. D&D has chainmail bikinis and leather thongs. Science fiction has golden bikinis! =)

 

Hence the reason I threw convention out the window when I designed Midnight's costume... a slightly modernized "Shadow" (the radio drama/pulp fiction character) with a black bodysuit instead of his shirt-pants-suspenders. Now granted, she does have a very nice body, but she'd only show it off if she took off the trenchcoat and only had on the bodysuit underneath... No flashing cleavage for THIS chick!

 

Michelle

aka

Samuraiko

 

Michelle

aka

Samuraiko