Non Powered Superhero Campaign

[penemue]

I'm working on a pitch for a graphic novel and was wondering if anyone has run a campaign that was relatively four colour, but none of the costumed characters had any superpowers or totally crazy technology. I don't mean Dark Champions with guns and shooty time, I mean guys in tights jumping rooftop to rooftop, duking it out and keeping it real. Sort of like Green Hornet and Kato, Classic Batman and Some of the Master Of Kung Fu series from the 70s and 80s (without all that Marvel Universe nonsense).

Any ideas or experiences to share?

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superheroes_and_villains_without_superpowers

[CoreBrute]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Wouldn't that basicly be either Pulp/super hero (like the shadow or the Spider) or DCTAS. Either way, your more likely to find them in other genres forums then here.

 

 

But maybe you will find something here. Who knows?

[bubba smith]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

acrobatics and fighting skills sounds more like ninja hero or a modern day version of pulp hero to me

[Acme]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

How about Watchmen? Admittedly a gritty parody of four-colour comics, but it includes loads of colourful characters (some with capes) with fanciful gadgets and codenames, and only one superpowered character (Dr. Manhattan) in the lot.

[CoreBrute]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

He can't use that, since he's trying to make a graphic novel (an admirable cause) and he doesn't want a copyright suit on his hands.

 

Now when you talk about this, do you mean only the heroes have no super powers and the villains do have powers, or are there no super powers period?

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Yeah, it has to be original, but the Watchmen advice was actually pretty good. After all, it was just a rehash of already existing characters, Moore just mixed things up.

I was thinking no powers, nothing. No magic, no psionics, no crazy technology. Just guys who go to the army surplus store and make costumes and go out and fight crime. Criminals respond by doing the same and a sort of Four Colour Universe thing happens where codes and mythologies develop. There was a comic Image put out a few months ago called Twilight Guardian. http://www.thetwilightguardian.blogspot.com/

I really liked the feel of it and wondered if I could pull that off with a team comic of heroes with no powers. Right now, it's sort of shelved as a graphic novel. That pitch took a more kid friendly turn as I'm sure this idea would be fairly dark and violent.

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

I think I was inspired by the Real Life Superhero phenomenon.

http://www.superheroeslives.com/indexreallife.htm

There has been a real move towards this in comics recently too.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Hey, back in the forties a college athlete turned Assistance D.A. who hated seeing people he KNEW were innocent get off could put on a mask and fight crime and nobody thought the idea was too farfetched. Using disguises to create a partition between regular life and crimefighting makes sense if you want to be a free agent...the cops would probably arrest you if they knew who you were. There's also image considerations: you want to anonymous, not unrecognizable. You probably want to make some sort of statement, which a costume can help you do. You may want to conceal some tools and weapons, and a custom costume can help you do that, too. There might be hundreds of people who have done something like this to get even, commit crimes, or whatever, then hung it up when they accomplished their goal, admitted failure, or just lost their drive. What would be really rare is a personality dedicated enough to make a real go of a career as a costumed crimefighter. Obsession, exhibitionism, delusion...can someone who puts on a costume and goes on patrol every week for years really be in good mental health?

 

The main challenge for any real life superhero is finding crime: there's no writer that's going to throw a jewelry store robbery in your path every few weeks. A big part of a successful crimefighter's strategy will be their method of finding crime. Are they good detectives? Do they set up bugs and hidden cameras? Listen in on police calls--pretty nervy, not a good idea to be in the same place as the cops when you're wearing a mask. Network of informants? To really be effective, they have to be able to be alerted to a crime and take off at a moment's notice to respond...an independent cab driver could do this fairly readily, for instance, and would certainly know the area.

 

For every competent crimefighter there would probably be several posers, incompetents, or even 'hobbyists'.

 

I wouldn't dismiss DC, it can easily be run as this sort of game. Without powers, characteristics, skills and equipment rule.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Hey' date=' back in the forties a college athlete turned Assistant D.A. who hated seeing people he KNEW were innocent get off could put on a mask and fight crime and nobody thought the idea was too farfetched. [/quote']

 

Who was that?

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Doc A.

Those are some good plot points to bring up. It kind of evokes the old Wildcards books for me for some reason, but without the superpowers.

I imagine a sort of guardian angels group would be a real thorn in the side of costumes heroes. I think myth-making is the important reason for wearing a costume. I know wearing a disguise is a criminal offense in Canada (Disguise with intent). Is it the same in the US or is it state by state? It would sort of crimp the style of costumed crime-fighting.

Canadian weapons offences would also crimp the style of hockey stick wielding vigilantes:

 

"Weapons offences

 

Restricted and Prohibited Weapons – Restricted weapons are mainly various handguns and rifles, but prohibited weapons also include switchblade knives, spiked wristbands, blowguns, mini-handguns, brass knuckles and other things such as Mace, teargas, pepper spray, nunchaku sticks and other devices used in martial arts, dart guns, stun guns, electric probes, and crossbows, among other weapons, including a vast array of firearms. Mere possession in your home, car, or on your person of these weapons is sufficient to be prosecuted under the Criminal Code.

 

Carrying or being in possession of a weapon, or an imitation weapon, "for a purpose dangerous to the public peace or for the purpose of committing an offence" is an offence under the Criminal Code ("weapons dangerous"). A "weapon" is broadly defined in the Code so as to include many objects which are not designed as weapons such as kitchen knives, a hockey stick, punk rock fashion accessories or pieces of pavement. This open-ended definition is extremely important for activists engaged in direct action, particularly those prepared to defend themselves against police violence, to understand. Similarly, an assault using something that is not necessarily a weapon will be charged as Assault with a weapon (a Hybrid offences which carries high penalties – s. 267)."

 

So Punk Rock characters who chuck hunks of pavement are in big trouble.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Is it the same in the US or is it state by state? It would sort of crimp the style of costumed crime-fighting.

 

It's state-by-state. Oddly enough, the laws in California are similar to Canada with regard to prohibited weapons. Most weapons that are prohibited are so because they're 'scary', not because they are notorious for use in violent crimes or are particularly effective. "Spiked wristbands" for heaven's sake. "Pepper Spray". "Nunchaku". Of the three of them, only nunchuks are effective in a fight, and they take years of training. In California, if you run a dojo, you can have them. So the only people that could use them effectively can possess them. :crazy: Not that I mind, they're also the most disciplined, but it's an example of legislative fuzzy thinking.

 

Now, add in wannabees armed with nunchucks, and it makes sense.

 

12020. (a) Any person in this state who does any of the following

is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year

or in the state prison:

(1) Manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the

state, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale, or who gives,

lends, or possesses any cane gun or wallet gun, any undetectable

firearm, any firearm which is not immediately recognizable as a

firearm, any camouflaging firearm container, any ammunition which

contains or consists of any flechette dart, any bullet containing or

carrying an explosive agent, any ballistic knife, any multiburst

trigger activator, any nunchaku, any short-barreled shotgun, any

short-barreled rifle, any metal knuckles, any belt buckle knife, any

leaded cane, any zip gun, any shuriken, any unconventional pistol,

any lipstick case knife, any cane sword, any shobi-zue, any air gauge

knife, any writing pen knife, any metal military practice

handgrenade or metal replica handgrenade, or any instrument or weapon

of the kind commonly known as a blackjack, slungshot, billy,

sandclub, sap, or sandbag.

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

That must be so confusing...

[Maelstrom]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

For your viewing pleasure:

 

http://www.findlaw.com

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

woo.. thanks.. repped.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

That must be so confusing...

 

Inconvenient, mostly. Leaves us with fists, that they can't take away (yet) and guns. Nothing in the middle. If you're little, buy a gun, because concealing a knife is a FELONY and you can't get a permit for it like you can a gun.

 

Big guys like me are different. If I was 125 lbs, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with me. :shrug:

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

I'm thinking to downplay the gunplay on the heroic end of things. I'm going to insist that the players buy a code versus killing. Lots of fisticuffs and improvised weapons I think.

My American Law knowledge is based on old episodes of L.A. Law and Night Court. I took Constitutional Law, but that was for the Canadian Constitution.

[Troy Hickman]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

There was a comic Image put out a few months ago called Twilight Guardian. http://www.thetwilightguardian.blogspot.com/

I really liked the feel of it and wondered if I could pull that off with a team comic of heroes with no powers. Right now, it's sort of shelved as a graphic novel. That pitch took a more kid friendly turn as I'm sure this idea would be fairly dark and violent.

 

Thanks for mentioning Twilight Guardian! Glad you enjoyed it. Actually, I think I have Hero System stats for her around here somewhere (I'm a Champions player of twenty-plus years, and many of my characters, like most of the folks from my Common Grounds series, either started out in Champions or have been converted to the system).

 

If anyone else is interested in reading the comic, by the way, Newsarama.com is supposed to run it in its entirety later this week. If you dig it, please consider voting for it as part of Top Cow's Pilot Season (voting is open from now until September 8, and you can vote once a day at www.topcow.com).

 

End of cheap plug.

 

And thanks again for the mention!

 

Troy

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Troy,

nice to see you on the boards!

 

Twilight Guardian was the only Pilot Season comic I bought and the only one I'd vote for. Excellent work. I really like the "real world" feel of it. If you could post her stats that'd be excellent.

 

I really loved Common Grounds as well. Very much in the vein of my Champions campaign of 20+ years.

 

David

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Who was that?

 

My bad, it was a fictional character, The Clock, I was just making the point that there was no expectation that a character had to be 'super' in some way to put on a mask and fight crime.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

How long these regular joe costumed crimefighters have been around will be an important factor, including in weapon laws. If they got good press and were around before weapon laws got so restrictive, they might have special exemptions if they maintain a good reputation. I'm really imagining the usual array of non-firearm combat technology: bows, crossbows, slings, slingshots, throwing knives, tonfas, staves, canes, cestii, etc.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Remember that these costumed vigilantes may not necessarily be following the laws, or even KNOW about them, which can result in nice, meaty RPing.

 

"Are those brass knuckles? IS THAT A TRENCH KNIFE?"

"Yeah. What's the problem?"

[penemue]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

I'm thinking the laws would be as they are now and that Costumed Crimefighters of the past have always been personae non grata to the authorities. I think there would be some turning a blind eye, but some cops would be uber-psycho about locking these underwear freaks up and throwing away the key. Again, I'm going to emphasis the code vs killing aspect of the heroic characters so I'm thinking they'd probably avoid weapons unless they were more gadgety or they were willing to face the music if the cops ever caught them. It'd be interesting to play out the loss of a secret ID and have everyone who knew the character react to the news. I don't think I've ever actually played that out in an RPG before.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

Sounds like a fun campaign to play in.

[wrestlinggeek]

Re: Non Powered Superhero Campaign

 

I ran a short-lived campaign in college along these lines. PCs were superheroes without powers (along the lines of Batman, etc.). There were no superhumans in the campaign, but there were people who tried to make you think they were superhuman. There were also the usual assortment of crooks, police, media, and politicians to deal with. And, of course, some of the criminals had to get in on the costume-action. As for reasons to wear a costume, three spring to mind: protection, disguise, intimidation.