Sex and the Single Superhuman

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

The Greek is slowly inheriting the powers of Athena, who vanished off the face of the Earth some few thousand years ago. Consequently, she can't have sex, if she's to actually BECOME Athena. However, she stretches the definition of what sex entails pretty thinly, and is able to carry on pretty normal relationships. She hasn't noticed the monstrous crush another party member has on her. She's still learning about this 'romance' thing in modern society. On top of that, she's had a few interactions with Ares, and finds, much to her consternation, that, as much as she hates him, she'd break her vow of virginity in a heartbeat if he asked.

 

Dratted Greek gods and their irresistible attraction . . .

 

Weather Girl is unable to touch most people because of the constant electric charge in her body. Even with proper defenses, she's terrified she'll hurt the person she touches, so she avoids contact. However, she's found an exception to this - her powers don't work against cold, and a party member has cold-based powers. She consequently developed a gigantic crush on him, but was tossed around in time before she could explore it.

 

Beacon has Asperger's. She's incredibly curious about this sex and intimacy thing, but uninterested in the relationship-building necessary to get there. She doesn't understand emotional reactions in the least, and is quite content remaining single.

 

Meanwhile, Josh's PbP game involves a LOT of relationship angst. It's a Fantasy Hero game, set in a world of his own creation. My character's involved with . . . Well, it WAS a love triangle, until one of the guys she's torn between got involved with someone else. She doesn't know about that yet.

 

Things are about to get interesting.

 

Anyway, in general, I have no objection to this sort of thing coming up in game, I find it adds another dimension of play, but if the other players find it bogs things down, I'll avoid it. And I ALWAYS insist on fade-outs.

[Cancer]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Mr. Terrific's powers can last for only eight minutes a day (and it takes a pill every two minutes to do that), and depend on "power pills" of his own making.

 

Women these days are not impressed by guys who only last two minutes, pills or no.

[ross_winn]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Weirdman / Joe is married with a loving wife who is a police officer attached to Special Crimes in the NYPD. She has some vague suspiscions that he is hiding something; but no idea that Joe is a closet homosexual with a long history of short affairs with men. She did see him, or someone who looked exactly like him, exiting a bathhouse in midtown during an investigation a few weeks ago.

[ZootSoot]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Tom Cat: Believes that every woman he gets involved with could be the one. But there's always another one waiting . . .

 

Luna: Is in love with a straight superheroine teammate. The character thrives on frustration.

 

Brickhouse: Her background has left her very cynical about the idea of love and it's going to be some time before sex interests her again.

 

Crimson Tide: Tragically the Tide is an XYY chromosome male whose mother was well past fifty when she conceived leaving him so unimaginably ugly that he only has sex while wearing his mask . . .

 

MacKenzie: Her appearance hasn't changed since she was thirteen, and her sense of touch is very poor and she really has a hard time distinguishing pain and pleasure. In other words she is fetish bait . . .

 

SwordDancer: Is, unfortunately, in an awful relationship. She is in love with her boss at the magazine where she works, he has children her age and would never leave his wife, but is also caught in the fatal attraction.

 

Trey: Physical invulnerability is linked to inability. Sex exists only on the level of fantasy for the boy.

 

Po'Boy: Is definitely a playah, but haven't explored that aspect of his character much yet.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Ca'Rom Holt: Ca' is an alien in a distant part of the galaxey. Up until a very short time ago in game he was believed to be the last of he's people. He is a winged being that is cosmic powered. He could become one of the most powerful beings in the know universe. He didn’t even consider a relationship could be more than platonic, well that changed when he found out that Earth Human Females, happen to be genetically compatible with him. He has found out that others of he’s people exist, but they don’t share but a small fraction of he’s current powers. He’s attracted to one of the females from Earth, a healer and defense based super, and now a female member of he’s people has entered the mix. So he’s confused.

 

Keslin Zane: Is also from the area of space that Ca’Rom Holt is. He’s mother was one of the humanlike people in that area and he’s father is a demonic-like being. He has small ram horns, a spiked tail. He has these strange shadow powers. Kes is a very handsome young man, and has no problem getting sex if he wants it. He has the Disadvantage: Weirdness Magnet, so mostly the girls he gets are attracted to the strange and odd, so all of the girls he has had, have always lead to adventure and danger.

 

Storm Shard: Helena is an open Lesbian that can be a bit too open. She has problems with some females, mostly the ones that she sees as sexually suppressed, or confused. She would be real happy if she found a girl to love and be happy with. Now with the way the game is going the frustration is going to be with her for a long time. GM wants her to be a bit frustrated so she uses her powers in a more aggressive manner when she is in a fight.

 

Bearcat: A Wolverine like C, he’s just getting introduced into the game so for now. Sex isn’t on he’s mind except for a little fun. He has in he’s write up as having a love for good beer, good cigars, good pizza and adult entertainment. He doesn’t know it, but the poor guy can’t age, and even if he dies he’ll be back. So he is going to have a real long time to find love.

 

Flame: 15 year old boy, from Japan. He is right now very shy toward females but that is changing. He has been made one of the two captains of he’s training team. So this is forcing him to get past the problem with girls. He has more females in the team than guys plus the co-captain is a girl. So as he gets older and bolder, he’ll be looking.

 

Cosmic Blue: Kira was an artificial person, in our game-Artison, or artificial person. She was damaged and a mystic healer was somehow able to make her a ‘real’ girl. Kira has the body of an 18 yr old, she is very beautiful, but has problems with human interaction, but she is on a walkabout to get over that. Right now she isn’t worrying about sex; she is more concerned with learning how to be human. Eventually she’ll more than likely experiment, but in the end, as the player I have no idea what her sexual persuasion will be. Plus she is also gathering others that like her have something odd about them.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Jessica - Is a widow, and is currently involved with another PC, and has rediscovered the idea of Love. The prospect scares and thrills her at the same time, she has just gotten to the point where she admitted to herself she is in love with someone.

 

Silence - knows what the concept is, but betrayal by a loved one is what caused her to be become what she is, and she's been out of the Scene as it were for over 2000 years. The idea of a relationship wouldn't occur to her.

 

On that note .. I think exploring relationships and how Supers would deal with them a bit fascinating. And relationships in general (wether as just friends, or something more) strike me as excellent roleplaying material and love it when a GM provides an opportunity to have them in a game.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

BASTION:

 

* Is he/she married? Does your character have a husband, a wife, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a fiancée, a "significant other," a lover, or several of the above?

 

Sebastian Castle was almost married two years ago... (Queue dream sequence – jk!)

 

After three very successful years as Dr. Sebastian Castle’s scientific assistant Molly Checkett earned her Doctorate in Physical Sciences and Quantum Physics, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Epic City’s esteemed Iron’s University. Until that time Dr. Castle looked upon her as a student - a very beautiful and intriguing student, but a student none-the-less. However, after her graduation Sebastian privately acknowledged her maturity and quickly fell in love with Molly.

 

After her graduation Dr. Checkett agreed to stay on with Dr. Castle as a peer. Together they explored the fascinating world of QCD (Quantum Chromodynamics - learn more about their fascinating work here: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/theory/staff/leinweber/VisualQCD/ImprovedOperators/index.html)

 

Dr. Castle’s genius in the field of quantum physics was world renown. As his partner Dr. Checkett was privy to some of the most groundbreaking research happening in the quantum realms. As Dr. Castle’s love for Molly grew her respect for him peaked. The two became a couple and their partnership, both professional and private, lasted for another two years.

 

During their years together Dr. Checkett played the role of marketing executive to the masses. Many of Dr. Castle’s theories were too complicated for even the scientific community at large to grasp. But with Molly’s clever help Dr. Castle’s ideas were spun into understandable and exciting new research possibilities. With Molly at the helm of his grant appropriation there was an endless stream of money available to energize Dr. Castle’s research.

 

Unfortunately Dr. Castle’s research continued to produce more questions than answers. Eventually and despite Molly’s considerable efforts, venture capitalists began turning their backs on Sebastian’s research. Not surprisingly Dr. Castle was unfazed by the loss of trust in his research and continued to focus on potentially unreachable goals. It was during this time, as the Castle facilities were falling apart, hemorrhaging resources and cash at an incomprehensible rate, that Dr. Molly Checkett conspired to strike out on her own.

 

Realizing the damage being caused to the Castle name and the inevitable fall of the Castle Research Facilities Dr. Checkett began to manipulate events in her favor. It took the attractive and market savvy Dr. Checkett little time to attract professional and private suitors in many of the world’s major scientific institutions. Gradually she morphed Dr. Castle’s successes into her own. Soon it was she, Dr. Molly Checkett who enjoyed all of the fame and recognition for Castle Research’s former achievements, leaving Dr. castle alone to defend the reality of imaginary worlds and sci-fi theories that would put Isaac Asimov to shame.

 

Throughout the loss of his company and his reputation Dr. Castle remained sublimely oblivious to Dr. Checkett’s machinations, assured as he was of their impenetrable love. The killing blow came on Christmas Eve. Despite loosing all of his researchers and assistants Dr. Castle continued to persevere, spending long days and nights at his laboratory in hopes of cracking the quantum conundrum. However, Sebastian had set aside Christmas Eve for a very special event. No amount of lab work would keep him from meeting Molly at Harold’s Herald, a restaurant/pub not far from his lab in Epic City’s 1st District. On this occasion he was to ask the love of his life, Dr. Molly Checkett, to marry him.

 

Everything seemed to go splendidly. Molly had arrived on time, Sebastian had remembered the engagement ring, the Champaign was ordered and the night was beautiful. By the end of dinner Sebastian was ready to pop the question. So, on one knee, he proposed marriage.

 

Feigning shock and confusion Molly quickly refused Sebastian’s proposal. She seized upon the moment to break off relations with Sebastian sighting the stress of their recent professional problems as her reason for leaving. In but a moment Sebastian’s world was turned upside-down.

 

It wasn’t until weeks later that Dr. Castle discovered that Dr. Checkett had usurped many of his most profitable patents and discoveries. Apparently she had used his unfailing trust in her to get signatures under the guise of everyday paperwork. Dr. Castle was left broke and broken. All he had left was his research, and soon even that would be impossible.

 

Dr. Molly Checkett, on the other hand, was enjoying new highs in her career. She was pursued by many but finally took over as the Head of Quantum Research at Antares Corporation in Epic City. The position was as prestigious as they come. Unfortunately for her, the demands on her scientific skills were incredibly demanding. Soon the young Dr. Checkett was in over her head, unable to produce scientific results at Dr. Castle’s level. This situation led Dr. Checkett to become even more insidious. In the ultimate act of subterfuge she called Dr. Castle and asked him if he was willing to reconcile.

 

Sebastian was stunned by Molly’s return. He had spent considerable time watching her rise to success on the back of his work and was certain that she would never speak to him again. So, in a moment of weakness Sebastian agreed to meet with his estranged lover.

 

Over dinner at Harold’s Herald and late into the night Molly worked her considerable charms on Sebastian and had her previous actions against him not been so heinous she would have certainly won Sebastian back. Unfortunately for Molly Dr. Castle suspected her plight and refused to reunite. However, Sebastian’s love for his former student and assistant was still strong and he found it impossible to forever dissociate himself from Molly.

 

Sebastian eventually agreed to a renewed plutonic friendship with Dr. Checkett. He was aware of Molly’s plans to steal from him in order to maintain her esteemed position at Antares Corporation. To him it didn’t matter. He would only be happy so long as he could continue to see her.

 

Since then Dr. Checkett has regained the faith of her supervisors with a series of recent quantum breakthroughs. However, unknown to her, the fantastic quantum innovations that she most recently stole from Dr. Castle were knowing planted by the doctor for her discovery. Sebastian has come to terms with the situation and is perfectly willing to seed his laboratory with research for Dr. Checkett to subsist on. Doing so keeps her in his life and sustains Sebastian’s hopes in the possibility that they might, one day, reconcile. Though Dr. Castle sincerely believes he is over Molly, subconsciously he still unconditionally adores his first and only true love.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Really never get into that aspect of characters when roleplaying. Zero interest in it' date=' personally.[/quote']

 

Zero interest in speculating about the PCs sex lives, or any romantic entanglements at all?

 

I don't generally get into whether or not characters are having physical relationshiops, but as far as out-of-costume moments go, I see dating as about the same as having a job or hanging out with the rest of the team.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Really never get into that aspect of characters when roleplaying. Zero interest in it' date=' personally.[/quote']

 

Really? You must be a hack ‘n slasher then - or perhaps you play episodic one-offs rather than serial adventures?

 

What about background (like my TMI vomit above)? What about motivation? You're characters have never sprung to the defense of their love? Now that's motivation.

 

In my opinion, without complex personalities no amount of villain punching will make for a fun game. Of course, we play long-term games wherein the characters grow and evolve as people and heroes.

 

What would the Fantastic Four be without the love shared by Reed and Sue? What about the Scarlet Witch and Vision, Batman and Catwoman, Green Arrow and Black Canary, Spiderman and Mary Jane???? It's the people behind the cowls that make fans want to come back for more. I believe that the same allure applies to the games I run and share with my players.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I think that one issue many roleplayers have with encouraging romantic aspects in their games can be pretty clearly seen by some of the posts....

 

There is a tendency among WAY too many gamers to make the sex lives of their characters so freaky that it can become uncomfortable for either the GM or another member of the game to deal with them.

 

I mean, I love ya all here, don't get me wrong. But I see some pretty frelled up melodrama in some of those characters. Maybe its just me... its not like I'm a prude, but I tend to prefer to mine the drama in roleplaying actual troubled romances without getting into real fringe space most of the time. Perhaps thats just cause I LIVE in an alternative style, and thus have no need to vicariously play out any BDSM, fetish, conflicted homoeroticisim or sexual abuse themes in my characters.... I get more than enough in my real life.

 

BTW, Golden Age... I'm not actually refering to you here... your post about Bastion's romance is a perfect example of what I'd consider a good solid late silver age/bronze age super romance... Angst, betrayl, unrequited love, dreams of reconcilliation, an unpredicatable and uncontrollable danger to his Secret ID that contrasts well with his super side.... Bastion may be nigh invunerable and a reknowned hero, but Dr. Castle has DEEP romantic problems that no amount of superpowers can fix.

Spot on for the genre. Congrats.

 

Edit: almost wiped my responce fixing typing errors. All better

[nexus]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I'll agree there's probably some degree of vicarious experience going on in some of these situations. But I don't think there's any harm in it. Role playing in and of itself is vacarious thrill seeking and most things in a character's life are generally somewhat exxagerated for drama and thrills.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I sometime wonder if the genre trope of "The Metahuman who's powers prevent them from experincing love, until they find members among their fellow supers who are immune to their powers" ala Rogue, started as a rather callous reader identification hook designed to play to the sterotype of comics readers as socially akward geeks.

[nexus]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I sometime wonder if the genre trope of "The Metahuman who's powers prevent them from experincing love' date=' until they find members among their fellow supers who are immune to their powers" ala Rogue, started as a rather callous reader identification hook designed to play to the sterotype of comics readers as socially akward geeks.[/quote']

 

That's...all too logical now that you mention it.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

That's...all too logical now that you mention it.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

BTW, Golden Age... I'm not actually refering to you here... your post about Bastion's romance is a perfect example of what I'd consider a good solid late silver age/bronze age super romance... Angst, betrayl, unrequited love, dreams of reconcilliation, an unpredicatable and uncontrollable danger to his Secret ID that contrasts well with his super side.... Bastion may be nigh invunerable and a reknowned hero, but Dr. Castle has DEEP romantic problems that no amount of superpowers can fix.

Spot on for the genre. Congrats.

Thanks a ton. That's really what I was going for!

 

Let me mention also that Bastion's huge “love background†is just that... background. It all happened in the past. However, it has implications to his future. At no time does our game get bogged down with all-comic spotlights that force all of the other characters to endure even an interesting love story instead of playing the adventure. It is only meant for the GM and player as a tool that will help immerse both in the campaign. Isn’t that what disads are for?

 

(Oh, by "all-comic†I mean:

 

We view each of our games as a complete comic book, from reintroduction of players and last book's recap to amazing cliffhanger.

 

Characters may not be on every page but you are almost assured that they will have their spotlight page, be it during a fight or role-playing. This perspective keeps a level of interest and respect at our table. If a player inappropriately leaves the table or is disrupting play otherwise it is his loss since he will have missed (or skipped over) a few pages of the comic book. Unfortunately for him (and others) those pages may have contained incredible panels full of brilliant strategy or information.

 

We enforce respect by remembering to read the whole comic even if your character isn't on that particular page.

 

Sorry for the silly explanation.)

[Zeropoint]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

In the superhero book that I am theoretically writing for NaNoWriMo, there is a female low-level brick (about 40 STR) who will be good friends with the team martial artist, and hoping to become more than friends. The martial artist likes her, and finds her attractive as well.

 

However, he realizes that with her high strength, she'd be likely to hurt him during sex (his only defenses come from Combat Luck, Just Nicked Me, Roll With the Blow, and some very light body armor). Even if she can remember to be gentle in the heat of passion, there are some muscles involved that simply aren't under voluntary control.

 

Any romantic relationship between the two of them must either be forever incomplete, or prove to be temporary. Thus, their best bet is to prevent themselves from letting such feelings develop. Of course, that could be hard when they have personalities that mesh well and routinely find themselves at each other's backs during super-brawls.

 

The course of true love never did run smooth.

 

Zeropoint

[OddHat]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

In the superhero book that I am theoretically writing for NaNoWriMo, there is a female low-level brick (about 40 STR) who will be good friends with the team martial artist, and hoping to become more than friends. The martial artist likes her, and finds her attractive as well.

 

However, he realizes that with her high strength, she'd be likely to hurt him during sex (his only defenses come from Combat Luck, Just Nicked Me, Roll With the Blow, and some very light body armor). Even if she can remember to be gentle in the heat of passion, there are some muscles involved that simply aren't under voluntary control.

 

Any romantic relationship between the two of them must either be forever incomplete, or prove to be temporary. Thus, their best bet is to prevent themselves from letting such feelings develop. Of course, that could be hard when they have personalities that mesh well and routinely find themselves at each other's backs during super-brawls.

 

The course of true love never did run smooth.

 

Zeropoint

 

 

So long as they both have fingers and tongues, I fail to see the problem.

 

Perhaps that discovery could form a plot point.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

Even if she can remember to be gentle in the heat of passion' date=' there are some muscles involved that simply aren't under voluntary control.[/quote']

I can immediately think of some options -- other than the ones implied by OddHat -- but they're not suitable for posting here.

[OddHat]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I can immediately think of some options -- other than the ones implied by OddHat -- but they're not suitable for posting here.

 

I once knew someone who designed specialized equipment for just this sort of situation.

 

[nexus]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I knew a couple in real life that had a similar problem (of course nowhere near as intense. The end result was just discomfort, not injury/maiming), but it can be overcome. Those muscles mentioned aren't totally involuntary, for instance.

[nexus]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

A pretty good, if graphic short story along these lines can be found in an Anthology called "Forbidden Acts". IIRC, the story itself is called "Facets of Solitude". Fair warning though, its not four color by any means and not subtle for children.

[OddHat]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

A pretty good' date=' if graphic short story along these lines can be found in an Anthology called "Forbidden Acts". IIRC, the story itself is called "Facets of Solitude". Fair warning though, its not four color by any means and not subtle for children.[/quote']

 

This book edited by Nancy Colins?

[nexus]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I think so, but its been about 10 years since I read it, so I could be way wrong.

[OddHat]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

I think so' date=' but its been about 10 years since I read it, so I could be way wrong.[/quote']

 

Thanks. My wife has a few Nancy Collins books, but I've never read her stuff.

[nexus]

Re: Sex and the Single Superhuman

 

So long as they both have fingers and tongues, I fail to see the problem.

 

Perhaps that discovery could form a plot point.

 

To be fair everyone's definition of "sex" is different. Many people have it fairly narrowly definied as specific act with other things being the build up to that act or a somewhat poorer alternative. Rogue, for instance, can have "sex" just not in a manner that most people would consider sex.