bubba smith Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 i 've read the experession people with powers used on these boards what does that mean exactly i'm confused? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers I think that's a reference to the sub genre of supers wherein people have powers. Hope that helps. =) j/k Think of more realistic/gritty type supers worlds. Where ordinary people are somehow given/granted powers, and the implications of this are explored in a realistic* manner. In other words, everyone doesn't pick a side and suit up to become a superhero/villain. I think the show The 4400 is a good example, and Heroes is another example. Within the boundaries of the medium. "Realistic" usually isn't. But typically, things follow some sort of logic of the "what if" variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers Yup, worlds where Supers exist, but where they don't usually wear costumes or fall into clear Good Guy / Bad Guy categories. Usually these are darker worlds, but even some lighter TV and SciFi settings arguably fall into this category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted June 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers would the six million dollar man and the[original] bionic woman fall into this catagoryor not since both were undercover federal agents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers would the six million dollar man and the[original] bionic woman fall into this catagoryor not since both were undercover federal agents? I'd say yes. Steve Austin lives in a world where superpowers exist (of several types), but he and the other supers he meets don't really wear costumes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted June 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers thank you oddhat and pattern ghosti understand now people with powers refers to street clothes supers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomed Prophet Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers I tend to use the term "people with powers" to describe NPCs may possess a power without knowing that they have one. A few examples are: A reporter with Luck, he always seems to get the pictures he needs or wants (often they're pictures of a superhuman's secret ID). An EMT who has Armor to simulate her "moved out of the way at just the right time to avoid injury". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted June 9, 2009 Report Share Posted June 9, 2009 Re: people with powers Think some of the higher-powered pulp characters, as another example. Powers, yes. Codenames, maybe, maybe not. Costumes, probably not; at least, not what we would recognize as supers' costumes. Good guy/bad guy taking of sides, again, probably not as starkly divided; recognizable heroes and villains: sometimes; folks that don't want to get into all that: many. I think Wild Cards may have been the first (or at least one of the first) of the recent batch of settings to explore this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers Wild Cards still involved people suiting up and choosing a side, though. I think it has a lot of elements of what we usually call people with powers, such as exploring the impact of supers on the history of the world, but I don't think it strictly qualifies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers In terms of what kind of game it is, it's like this. "Okay, your character is a superhero." This means your character 1. Has superpowers (or equivalent in some comic schtick: Gadgets, Martial Arts, etc.) 2. Has a cool "code name" 3. Has a costume, probably with mask. May not have a cape, but surely knows people who do. 4. Fights crime. Especially crime committed by supervillains. 5. Probably has a Secret ID 6. Probably adheres to some kind of "Superhero code" (specifics vary.) 7. Lives in a comic book like world. "Okay, your character has superpowers." This means your character 1. Has superpowers (or equivalent in some comic schtick) ......everything else is optional. You could decide to fight crime, keep your powers a secret, and/or make up a heroic persona, etc. - but not necessarily all of them, or even any of them. In any case, your world is probably not quite like the comic books - except for the existence of people with powers. Lucius Alexander Palindromedary with powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted June 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers thanks lucius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers Wild Cards still involved people suiting up and choosing a side' date=' though. I think it has a lot of elements of what we usually call people with powers, such as exploring the impact of supers on the history of the world, but I don't think it strictly qualifies.[/quote'] Certainty the first book in the series qualifies as people with powers. I think this is one of the better examples as it explores multiple personalities and lifestyles. Also, the style of having so many different writers working within a shared universe is just a nice touch. Link to Wild Cards wiki article. First Book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers I think the first Wild Cards novel actually does a good job covering the early history of superhero comics. Seems more deconstructionist than people with powers to me. The heroes run the gamut from pulpy to Golden and Silver Age, but all suffer from real world problems, and the world gives a nod toward taking a "realistic" approach to what would happen with an appearance of superhumans. For instance, it doesn't assume heroes will work together in super groups to fight the villains. Most supers don't bother to wear costumes. There isn't nearly as much investigation of common crime by the heroes, and in fact most of the conflict is constrained to groups of supers or to resolving plots to take government power. These have a lot of the feel of a people with powers setting. Still, Wildcards ends up with more of a comic/pulp feel than a more modern take on the people with powers setting does. I'd say the basic philosophies of the Wild Cards universe have a lot in common with -- probably inspired -- the type of setting we currently regard as people with powers, but I wouldn't put it clearly in that category, if that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers Pattern Ghost I think you may be confusing Pulp for Pimp... man i miss me some Fortunato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers Superhero game vampire: http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/b/baronblood.htm People with powers vampire: http://www.lucienlacroix.com/forever-knight.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 Re: people with powers Pattern Ghost I think you may be confusing Pulp for Pimp... man i miss me some Fortunato. Pimp too. =) I dunno, I could see him as a pulp villain. Weird forehead sperm and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Agenda Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Re: people with powers Mutants and Masterminds has a setting called Paragons that's based on a 'people with powers' premise. White Wolf's Aberrant also skirted around the edges of this sub-sub-genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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