AdamLeisemann Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Advanced warning: This is not a game I plan to run. This is just a crazy thought for an Iron Age Champions campaign or possibly as a comic book. Now on to the Warped Game Idea: Imagine a world where superpowers are real... at a price. Superhuman abilities are not meant to be possessed by humanity. However, some people do have them, and it costs them their sanity. The powers start out quite weak, and the people possessing them at that point aren't too bad off. However, practice makes their power grow, and as their powers grow, they lose their grip on reality, which only makes their powers grow more (in essence, the Superpowers = Cthulhu Mythos Lore: The more familiar you are with them, the more powerful they get and the less sane you become.) As a result, anyone with superpowers is feared, because of the madness caused by the powers. To demonstrate: The equivalent to Batman has no powers: He is perfectly sane except for the whole dressing as a bat thing. The equivalent to Superman is ultra-powerful: Metropolis is constantly getting wrecked because he thinks he's fighting Doomsday. How does this sound for a Champions/Horror Hero campaign seed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers Interesting concept, with need for working-out of details. Before I dive into that, a primary question (it's not clear from your post): are the PCs developing supers themselves, or do they just live in the city with them and have to deal with the fallout from them (maybe that's their job)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamLeisemann Posted July 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers Interesting concept' date=' with need for working-out of details. Before I dive into that, a primary question (it's not clear from your post): are the PCs developing supers themselves, or do they just live in the city with them and have to deal with the fallout from them (maybe that's their job)?[/quote'] Either one can be an interesting angle, exploring a different approach to the premise' horror. The "Developing Supers" part (best to start at 75-100 pts, maybe) could help to explore the horror of losing one's humanity when they exercise their talents, the price of being a hero or the punishment of being self-serving. The "Deal with the Fallout" possibility (Possibly 25, 50, or 75 pts) would be a more traditional form of horror. If you wanted to run such a game, either one would be an interesting possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comic Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers So.. like real world politics, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transmetahuman Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers "With great power, comes great incomprehensibility"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekkidcarpenter Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers The equivalent to Batman has no powers: He is perfectly sane except for the whole dressing as a bat thing. This just sounds too unrealistic for anyone to have fun in. I mean come on, Batman is sane? Who's going to believe that? I actually think its a pretty cool idea where you'd get all sorts of interactions like you think is happening in Blade Runner. So the guy that you think is normal is trying to take down the uber guy whose time is running out, and then it turns out the first guy isn't normal either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamLeisemann Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers This just sounds too unrealistic for anyone to have fun in. I mean come on' date=' Batman is sane? Who's going to believe that?[/quote'] What I mean is that he'll be sane compared to more powerful supers. I actually think its a pretty cool idea where you'd get all sorts of interactions like you think is happening in Blade Runner. So the guy that you think is normal is trying to take down the uber guy whose time is running out, and then it turns out the first guy isn't normal either. Admittedly, I never saw Blade Runner, so I wouldn't know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzMike Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers The Short Sounds good to me. Repped. The Long This idea has a few gaming ramifications that need to be explored. Here's a few of the questions it raised for me: Is it loss of sanity or more a corruption? In other words, is there a physical reflection of the destruction of the powered individual's mental faculties? What is the upper limit of power? You mentioned Superman and Batman - that's a pretty big range. How does the progression of insanity relate to increase of power? Does the 'sanity loss' occur through possession of power, or through the use of it? In gaming terms does it matter whether the power is persistent ("I have Life Support, so I am incurably insane"), or non-persistent/attack based ("I can use my flight, but if I use it too long I'll lose myself"). Or is the amount of insanity directly related to the 'active' or 'real' points in a power? e.g. Ultraviolet Vision Man is quirky, Pick Up Mountains Man is a loon. What actually constitutes a 'power' in this setting? Do Super Skills? Does Super Tech? Does stats over 20? Over 30? What is the origin of the 'power'? Is it common? If not - how about psionics? Magic? Aliens? Just a few thoughts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adventus Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers Wasn't this called Aberrant???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers I like it but I think the if I used it in a game I'd have the PCs be "normal" people trying to mitigate, apprehend and otherwise deal with the mentally disturbed supers, perhaps to have a couple of them start to develop powers on their own and deal with potential (or even inevitable to be dark) madness that will bring. I had a similar idea that I wanted to use a a rationale for a Dark Champions: The Animated series campaign. The villians were all the product of a specific physical abberation that give them powers that effectively let the manipulate reality on a basic level but it unconsciously, working on their obessesions and ususally darker nature manfiesting in ways that just reinforced their delusions: their nutty "theme" devices worked (they were just props for their powers) , for some reason their "minions" put up with their antics, obvious insanity and sometimes casual cruelty (Subtle mind control), that sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers I built a system like this back in 1994 or so, based off of the Stellar Games Nightlife and Super Ace Agents games. Your Sanity started at 100, and could be used to purchase powers, even in play. If it ever hit 0, you were an NPC. Sanity could be earned by living a normal life and doing normal, everyday things, while it could be lost by performing insane actions. Secret Identities were needed to keep the most powerful heroes sane enough to continue to function; every day at a normal job and away from adventuring added another sanity point or two. Aberrant revisited this theme years later, and something similar is mentioned in Godlike and Wild Talents. Fun approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamLeisemann Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers Wasn't this called Aberrant???? I never purchased nor read nor played Abberant, so I wouldn't know. Though I would certainly not be surprised. White Wolf has always been into such combinations of "powerful" and "Helpless." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamLeisemann Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers I built a system like this back in 1994 or so, based off of the Stellar Games Nightlife and Super Ace Agents games. Your Sanity started at 100, and could be used to purchase powers, even in play. If it ever hit 0, you were an NPC. Sanity could be earned by living a normal life and doing normal, everyday things, while it could be lost by performing insane actions. Secret Identities were needed to keep the most powerful heroes sane enough to continue to function; every day at a normal job and away from adventuring added another sanity point or two. Aberrant revisited this theme years later, and something similar is mentioned in Godlike and Wild Talents. Fun approach. Le-sigh! I guess it's now become a cliche, showing up in so many games. Not that Cliches are bad, but it can be dissapointing to think of something cool and then see it already done by other companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers Le-sigh! I guess it's now become a cliche, showing up in so many games. Not that Cliches are bad, but it can be dissapointing to think of something cool and then see it already done by other companies. All that's old is new again; do it well, and no one will much care that someone else has done something similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monster Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 Re: [Warped Game Ideas (WGI)] Psycho-powers Actually, I think it could be fun, certainly for a short run. Though if I were doing it, I'd be tempted to give the PCs maybe 25 points. Yes, just 25. Oh, but cap the disads at 100...or, allow only 25 points of disads, except allow psychlims all the way up. Then let them go to town with standard superhero campaign limits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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