A Super powered Nation

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Suppose you lived in a country decimated by AIDS, with an average annual household income of under US$1000.00 More than half the people you know are illiterate, everyone you know is on the verge of malnutrition (at least two members of your extended family have died for lack of a mega-dose of Vitamin A that would have cost about five cents American). Your infant sister died of dysentery because your mother couldn't breast feed her (she's HIV+) but also couldn't afford the fuel to boil the water to mix her formula. For three generations your family has been caught between two sides in a civil war, and you can't tell which side is worse. (Again, members of your extended family have been conscripted by both sides.) Then you develop super powers. What would you do?

 

My first ten answers are variations on "move my family away from here, in any direction."

 

I agree - up to a point. I'd like to think that the first thing I'd do is help my family (relocate, or go hijack food and fresh water). The next thing I'd do is help my village (in most 3rd-world nations, the village is basically extended family). After that, I) see two choices - become a freedom fighter for my people (playing Robin Hood and what not), or ursurp the local warlord and be ten times worse (instead of terrorizing my own people, I'd terrorize my neighbors who have easily exploitable resources).

 

You're poor, so you're not a gadgeteer. You're uneducated, so power tricks with your Sx are not going to be easy. You're in the back of beyond, so finding, much less purchasing, martial arts training or a Kevlar vest or other training or equipment to cover gaps in your natural powers is, well, more unlikely than you developing powers in the first place.

 

That leaves mutation, finding a mystic artifact, being exposed to alien energies/radiation (like say, a spaceship crashing), or having some sort of Heritage (like your great-ancestor was impregnated by an angel or made a pact with a demon, etc).

[megaplayboy]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Geez, if everyone in the country had superpowers, even if it was a "mere" 100,000 people...god forbid if they become semi-organized and start thinking in a self-interested fashion, as a nation with dramatically greater power than it had before(indeed, depending on the campaign setting, it might easily surpass the US, China and the West as "most powerful nation on Earth").

 

Even drastic countermeasures would be no guarantee of success...launching a cluster of nukes against a country of truly randomized supers, with the full assortment of superpowers, might result in most of the nukes being successfully intercepted, and the remainder being far less effective than projected, due to overlapping force walls, mass teleportation away from target area, supertough targets that can survive a non-direct hit, etc. And then the attacking country would be woefully ill-equipped to cope with an angry horde of metahumans bent on revenge...

 

Most of my PCs would try to dissuade them, siting the "law of unintended consequences", but a few might seriously consider the idea, perhaps with some "improvements in approach and implementation".

[lapsedgamer]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

If he tried this on a smaller scale, with a vetted group, I would think this would be a decent attempt at bootstrapping his country up. The ethical issues are thorny, but I'm behind it with 100 or so subjects. I'm thinking nuns, civil rights reformers.

[megaplayboy]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

I'm reminded of the old Superman story where there were suddenly two Supermen and they worked together to turn the Earth into a utopia(curing Lex Luthor's baldness so he'd help them restore the Kandorians, then the thousands of Kandorians pretty much worked to resolve every significant human problem there was at the time). Then I'm reminded of some Authority storyline where the villainous ruler of some small country created hundreds of supermen for terroristic purposes and wreaked havoc before being killed.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Of course, the results would be plot-driven. Super-powered utopias can be cool, and whether they're reasonable in the setting depends on the details. The generals don't get better super powers, everyone around them just got 'more equal'. The randomly-distributed powers aren't optimized for combat (low Dex, low defense, etc.), so they have an incentive to use their powers commercially (human forklift, eyebeam welder, and the like). A lot of people get powers useful for developing the country, like weather and plant control. The country could wind up a not-so-hidden hidden land. And let's be honest: your typical poverty-stricken and war-torn African country is arguably already close enough to hell on earth that radical changes that would definitely be regrettable elsewhere might be an improvement.

 

I can't think of any characters I run that would condone forcing powers on people against their will, though.

[drunkonduty]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Knight Rider: Are you insane? Give out super powers randomly to people? You think that would work? 10/10 for science, 0/10 for human nature. Have you considered maybe recruiting a small team of good people, people with records of helping others? That might work better, dufus. Now get out of here, contact me later and I can help you pick your people. I don't trust you to do it yourself. Oh and I'll keep the bomb.

[BNakagawa]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

It's like stopping a brawl long enough to give testosterone, adrenaline and brass knuckles to all of the combatants.

 

Hell no.

 

I don't think I've ever played a character that would have thought that this plan was a good idea.

 

I think I might have played a TFOS character that might have taken the bomb, waited until Fred Phelps and co left and then set it off over SDCC, though...

[kahuna's bro]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

tfos?

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Though most of my characters would be against it because of the forced nature of the event, even if they otherwise thought it might be a good idea...the analogy could also be 'stopping an inner city riot long enough to give everyone highly marketable skills and a new car'. If the event only gave combat-oriented abilities and few people stopped for a minute to ask themselves 'what am I going to do with my life now that I have super powers?', it would be a disaster akin to dropping a nuke on the country. We don't know anything about the nature or distribution of powers granted, there seems to be an assumption that everyone will be bricks and blasters, what if there are just as many 'transform dirt into food' and 'calm people down' types? If the event incorporates the cliche' of powers having to do with the personality and innermost wishes of the person affected, there would be a LOT of people who just want the power to make the war stop or the power to feed their families.

[Yansuf]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

i think i might have played a tfos character that might have taken the bomb' date=' waited until fred phelps and co left and then set it off over sdcc, though...[/quote']

 

sdcc?

[megaplayboy]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

San Diego Comic Con

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

San Diego Comic Con

 

Ah!

 

TFOS is Teenagers From Outter Space (had to Google it )

[Cygnia]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Ah!

 

Now what was TFOS?

 

Something-Something-Original-Series?

 

???

 

Teenagers From Outer Space, I believe. Sci-fi humor RPG.

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Teenagers From Outer Space' date=' I believe. Sci-fi humor RPG. [/quote']

 

Dang! Scooped!

[Chuckg]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Kaian (after staring at the scientist speechless for a while) -- "... first off, let me congratulate you on having an unwavering optimism and faith in the innate decency of humankind beyond anything I've ever been capable of, or wanted to be capable of. That having been said, its entirely misplaced -- no, no, lets not get bogged down in an ethical debate on the topic, there's no need when your plan has a massive practical obstacle preventing it from ever being fulfilled. Which is to say, the very warring generals that you hate so much, and all their followers, will be empowered also by this thing. Two teams of warring supers routinely tears up a city block. You propose to let loose armies of them on your home -- all of them fighting each other, and then all of the roused civilian population fighting them simultaneously. You might as well attempt to bring peace to this civil war by indiscriminately arming everyone with powered armor and man-portable plasma cannons. This scheme of yours is insanely over-optimistic, and it's just not happening.

 

That having been said, an archive of DNA collected from hundreds of the world's most powerful metahumans is a priceless potential future asset for the welfare of the race. I can think of several contingencies, from some supervillain inventing a mass depowering process and using it on the world's heroes, to the arrival of some cosmic menace, where it would be very useful to be able to re-empower the world's heroes en masse, or else mass empower a selected group of people to bolster our ranks. Which is why I am calling my teammate Exemplar on the radio to pick up your bomb and immediately fly it away to his race's hidden city of Tir Numen(*), where it shall be carefully studied by Asuran scientists, and preserved in stasis away from any other who might misuse it. And rest assured, in all histories regarding it, your name will be given full credit.

 

And now, Doctor, I'm afraid its time to go."

 

 

 

(*) Think sort of like Arcadia, only they're not so much Eternals/Empyreans as they are the last survivors of the ancient Precursor race.

[CoreBrute]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Thread necromancy! Also, I forgot to say how my characters would react.

 

Kumudo( a super strong ex-member of a neo-black panther movement): "This is incredible. Your right, our people need the power to defend themselves. How much time do you need? I will hold the rest off. You might want to find a way off though. Do you have an escape pod? I'm bulletproof but I don't think you are."

 

Zero Core (a cross between Wraith(marvel) Alex mercer (prototype) and Nero (Devil May Cry 4):

"If the war with the D'morrans was still on, I agree we would need the power. But we already have a super powered nation in Antartica, and they have nearly destroyed the world repeatedly. Not by their own hand but the fear of other nations. The world is on the brink, and we can not have such a volotile situation. If you were to give a limited number, that would be fine, and most likely more effective. There is too much danger in your plan." He moved to the machine and begins typing. "Go away. I will say I didn't find you. If you have a way off this fortress use it." He then begins to download all the information to a CD. It might prove useful.

 

Harry Noel (from a Wild Card campaign, his powers come from a symbiote joker aka Venom, who used to be his best friend) "this is a terrible idea. I got my powers from a similar event. Thousands died, some by my own hands. It was horrific...this power should never be forced on people, and I would hate if one of the generals got more power to oppress their people. If you could limit it that only a few good volunteers..." He sighs before calling his officer, saying he has the biochemist and now needs people to make sure the activator doesn't drop.

[薔薇語]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

How would "The Rose" react?

 

"First: Lets back up your data and a few samples while I warn the forces to stay back." After doing that, if The Rose thinks it is possible, get the man out of there while destroying all the remaining data and samples; no one should be allowed to recreate this work without strong supervision. And as The Rose is a teleporter, he should be able to get the man out of there with relative ease and then re-connect with him later. Following that, they both work on investigating the serum. This could be a great chance for humanity to produce top notch Heroes not bound to any particular national interest but to a common goal of helping the world. And we may even work with the scientist's local population first to help bring it out of despair.

 

La Rose.

[assault]

Re: A Super powered Nation

 

Captain Justice would arrest the guy and smash his stuff, without the slightest hesitation or sympathy for him. (Captain Justice doesn't have powers himself, incidentally.)

 

Captain Wonder would probably do the same. (He does have powers, however.)