A more advanced origin.

[ParitySoul]

Let me run down the basics:

 

Mutant, Scientific Mistake, Alien, Technology(Cyber/Gaget), Time Travel, Training, Magic, Destiny/Luck

 

What I'm trying to do is to break up the really basic orign plots into a spreadsheat of advanced and alternative Origin stories for characters. I'm doing this for future players to give them an idea of the most common and uncommon of the superhero plot openers.

 

Any ideas or references that would go into more detail I can raid?

[Whitewings]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Let me run down the basics:

 

Mutant, Scientific Mistake, Alien, Technology(Cyber/Gaget), Time Travel, Training, Magic, Destiny/Luck

 

What I'm trying to do is to break up the really basic orign plots into a spreadsheat of advanced and alternative Origin stories for characters. I'm doing this for future players to give them an idea of the most common and uncommon of the superhero plot openers.

 

Any ideas or references that would go into more detail I can raid?

Don't forget Scientific Success. Captain America's a perfect example, and the live TV version of the Hulk was an example of a deliberate experiment that worked (rather too well... ).

[Haven Walkur]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Experimental Subject 242-15D (Robert Walker)

 

There are various "black book" agencies in genre that create superheroes by illicit use of various high tech procedures -- radical gene therapy, viral transmission of non-human DNA, surgical modification, cybernetic implants, psychological conditioning, induced trauma. Use of such methods on human subjects would be illegal in the game world, or at the very least, highly unethical. Survival rate of subjects would be low, so the "evil agencies" involved would require a large subject pool or an on-going supply of subjects.

 

Sometimes subjects would be volunteers -- perhaps under false pretenses -- but more often subjects would be victims kidnaped "off the street". "Evil agencies" might breed or buy their human subjects or otherwise coerce subjects into participation. Said "evil agencies" might include covert governmental operations.

 

So for an origin story: Character was an unwilling experimental subject for some sinister high-tech agency. Character gained powers -- not necessarily the ones intended by those responsible -- and used them to escape.

 

Illegal experiment, Unwilling subject

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

You could also add Spiritual Possession to the list. In this case, the spirit of X inhabits another body other than the one it originally belonged in and this somehow gives the new body superpowers. Often this is due to some mystic transference, but not always. Supergirl sort of fits here. So does Psylocke(after Betsy Braddock's death). Doom's mental transference ability results in something similar as well.

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

You might also consider. Birthright an origin too. Now, we're seeing more and more people who are "born with powers" because their parents were superheroes/superheroines. DC is particularly good at that with one generation taking the place of another. The current Black Canary for instance, inherited her "Canary Cry" power from her mother. One of the current Outsiders is Black Lightning's daughter Grace(can't remember her code name). In Marvel, it has been stated that Spiderman's children will probably have powers(e.g. Spidergirl). Of course, in Marvel mutant parents are much more likely to have mutant children as well(Rachel "Phoenix" Summers).

[BNakagawa]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

You might also consider. Birthright an origin too. Now' date=' we're seeing more and more people who are "born with powers" because their parents were superheroes/superheroines. DC is particularly good at that with one generation taking the place of another. The current Black Canary for instance, inherited her "Canary Cry" power from her mother. One of the current Outsiders is Black Lightning's daughter Grace(can't remember her code name). In Marvel, it has been stated that Spiderman's children will probably have powers(e.g. Spidergirl). Of course, in Marvel mutant parents are much more likely to have mutant children as well(Rachel "Phoenix" Summers).[/quote']

 

A mutant kid is a mutant. Covered.

 

Anyone else who inherits their powers from their parents is essentially an alien. Aliens have powers because they are universally superpowered. So it doesn't really matter if you're a Martian Manhunter or the son of Odin, you're basically an alien.

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

A mutant kid is a mutant. Covered.

 

Anyone else who inherits their powers from their parents is essentially an alien. Aliens have powers because they are universally superpowered. So it doesn't really matter if you're a Martian Manhunter or the son of Odin, you're basically an alien.

 

A mutant is a mutant, sure. But I don't think I'd count someone who was born with superpowers an alien if they and their parents are native to Earth. J'onn J'onzz is an alien, yes. He's from Mars. The Son of Odin's proper homeworld is Asgard.

 

But Black Vulcan is/was born an American citizen. So was Grace. We are talking about one human native of Earth with powers having a child native to Earth with powers. That doesn't fit as an alien to me because the person is native to the planet and therefore does not have the adjustment issues, for example, that are native to an alien. For one thing, they understand the culture because they grew up in it. They also understand the language because it is their native tongue. The "native" also probably doesn't have access to all of the "alien technology" that is part of the usual alien package(Superman, Orion, Starfox, etc) The only difference between Grace and say, a child of Batman's(assuming he had one) is that Grace's powers are inborn from her parents whereas Batman's kid would be inheriting the Cave and all the cool gadgets.

 

EDIT: A further difference between a true alien(like Superman or J'onn J'onzz or even Hawkman) and the child of an Earth super(like again, Canary or Spidergirl) is that their physiology is basically human. Their body chemistry may be different, but by and large, you can treat them medically as if they were human. Drugs that work on humans, generally work on them. And when you cut them open for surgery they have the right number of each organ(one heart, two lungs, one stomach, etc) and they're in the right place. If Superman gets injured, he has to go to Star Labs and be worked on by all sorts of scientists because a regular doctor isn't going to recognize anything when they cut him open(assuming they even can).

[garou]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

A mutant kid is a mutant. Covered.

 

Anyone else who inherits their powers from their parents is essentially an alien. Aliens have powers because they are universally superpowered. So it doesn't really matter if you're a Martian Manhunter or the son of Odin, you're basically an alien.

No, a mutant kid would be one who exibits powers when neither parent has them, or powers that are not associated with either parent. But, if Plasma and Firebolt (both fire-based supers) have a kid who posseses fire-based powers, the child is not technically a mutant.

 

"A mutant (also known to early geneticists a "monster") is an individual, organism, or new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is a sudden structural change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type"

 

(Not claiming wikipedia is the end-all, be-all of definitions, but once a trait breeds true, it's not really a mutation anymore.)

 

Magic is also far too broad. It's going to cover anyone whose powers come from a magic artifact, a spellcaster, a supernatural being (you can claim that a vampire or werewolf is an alien, but they're really a supernatural entity).

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Garou,

 

I can kinda go with the "a mutant is a mutant" idea though because the kid is going to be genetically a mutant. A Homo Sapiens Superior, to borrow the Marvel Comics definition. While, strictly speaking, they wouldn't be a mutant, at least not in the same sense as their partents, they would count as mutant in every way that matters.

[garou]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Sure, and I can see that. My point though, is that a child with powers who has superhero parents isn't going to have (probably) all the stereotypical "I'm a mutant with powers and no one understands me" angst that seems to pervade that origin. A "birthright" category (which could include anyone who directly descends from a superpowered being) covers that origin much better.

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Sure' date=' and I can see that. My point though, is that a child with powers who has superhero parents isn't going to have (probably) all the stereotypical "I'm a mutant with powers and no one understands me" angst that seems to pervade that origin. A "birthright" category (which could include anyone who directly descends from a superpowered being) covers that origin much better.[/quote']

 

That I can agree with. It was just that because you were quibbling with the idea of a mutant based on a scientific definition...it looked like you were trying to go somewhere else with it.

[garou]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

No, it was just really late and I wasn't very clear. Mea culpa.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Getting away from the mutant thing, but staying on 'birthright,'

 

suppose the Captain America and some not-mutant had a kid, and that kid had powers, but not 'mutations,' at least not in the genetic sense. Would that not qualify 'birthright' as a category all its own?

 

I ask because doesn't the Fantastic Four have a baby involved someway or other?

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Duke Bushido,

 

Yes, that was the point. There are a lot of heroes/heroines who are now seeing their sons and daughters grow up and take on Superheroic identities(and some villains too). Hence: Grace, Spidergirl, Black Canary, and Franklin Richards(the person you were looking for) among others.

[Arkham]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Duke Bushido,

 

Yes, that was the point. There are a lot of heroes/heroines who are now seeing their sons and daughters grow up and take on Superheroic identities(and some villains too). Hence: Grace, Spidergirl, Black Canary, and Franklin Richards(the person you were looking for) among others.

 

Minor correction:

It is Thunder that is Black Lightning's daughter.

Grace is the brick in the Outsiders with a mostly unexplained backstory.

 

Edit> This isn't specifically to you, you just happen to be the last one to mention Grace...

[Mike W]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Minor correction:

It is Thunder that is Black Lightning's daughter.

Grace is the brick in the Outsiders with a mostly unexplained backstory.

 

Edit> This isn't specifically to you, you just happen to be the last one to mention Grace...

 

My bad. I knew one of the Outsiders was Black Lightning's daughter, but it had been a while since I got the book and couldn't remember which one it was.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: A more advanced origin.

 

Hey,

 

This might fall under the magic category, but how about those superheroes who were granted their powers by a god? A holistic source of powers wouldn't necessarily be magic, right? The only quick example I can think of happened in The Odyssey -- one of the combatants was chosen out of the battle and "supped on the milk" of a goddess to be reborn as a mighty warrior, or something like that.

 

I was trying to work a character once who had a small piece of a holy relic inbedded in his body which gave him superpowers, but could never decide what sort of powers such thing might give someone.

 

Anyway, that's my two cents' worth. Have a great day, all.

 

Matt "Getting-repetitive-motion-injuries-from-shaking-the-piggy-bank-too-much" Frisbee