Character Idea Assistance

[Big Monkey]

My players and I are starting a new Champions game using Scott Bennie's Gestalt idea as a backdrop. They also want it to be an origins campaign, so we're starting out with them just building some normals with me adding power sets to the characters.

 

After that, the players will trial-and-error the details of their powers through roleplay, figuring out what they can do as the game progresses (not to mention the exact natures of their Gestalts).

 

Problem is, I'm coming up short on ideas. I don't want to use a lot of the more obvious Gestalt ideas (like "fire" or "justice" or "strength" and so on), but at the same time I don't want to go so far onto the fringe that the characters won't be effective superheroes.

 

I know one of the characters is going to be the Gestalt of Raygun Gothic (that is, the "vision of the future" as per the 1920s and 1930s, with jet packs and ray guns and such), and that another is going to be the Gestalt of Beaches. But after that, my ideas are running a bit dry.

 

Anyone have any interesting ideas? I could really use a hand with this.

[Cassandra]

Re: Character Idea Assistance

 

Why not take a "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" approach? Take famous people like Chuck Yeager, Jackie Robinson, Raquel Welch, and use them at archtypes for superheroes.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Character Idea Assistance

 

How about:

1) It all started in the year 2000. That was the year mankind's evolution kicked into high gear. But the evolution was something more ... the vague concepts of the world ... things like love, peace, war ... they all became personified as avatars, or Gestalts as the science community has called them, rose up with a varying degree of power. However, no one expected Holocaust, the Gestalt of Nuclear War, to raise his ugly head. In the last ten years he's hunted other Gestalts down and either recruited them, or destroyed them. It's now 2011. The world is a different place ... a colder world with the only heat coming from the gene factories. You? You're one of the few Gestalts left and we need your help to take down Holocaust and those under his rule. Welcome to the Gestalt Winter ... hope you survive.

 

2) Adventure? Excitement? You've come to the right place. The Gestalt Club is home to one of the largest Gestalt communities in 1936 New York. We hire out teams to explore the ancient ruins of South America, to lead expeditions into the deepest, darkest Africa, and to help countries against the growing threat of The Axis Autorität, the growing force of evil Gestalts in Europe. Will you stand with us and help the world? Adventure! Excitement! Join the Gestalt Club today!

 

3) People have been talking about "Gestalting" since the early 21st century. It was hemmed and hawed in universities, tested in corporate laboratories, and debated on news channels until this fad had become nothing more than pop science rearing it's ugly head. By 2255, everyone barely remembered the concept, let alone the implications of what would happen when people began Gestalting. But it happened. At first, it was only a few people within the Sol cluster. Someone on Mars Colony G6 had started showing odd behavior before bursting into a new form. Then someone on Europa T12 grew gills overnight. EarthGov started paying attention after the twelfth person within a week Gestalted and formed GENOME, The Gestalt Enforcement Node for Origin Manifestation Evolution. We're first on the scene at every Gestalt manifestation, and we're here to help. If you know someone that's in need of our help, or are a Gestalt yourself, please contact us at N0.55.177.G166 and remember, you're not a freak ... you're an idea that's come to light.

 

Hope this helps.

[Big Monkey]

Re: Character Idea Assistance

 

Those are some very, very cool ideas. Much better than my general "something strange has happened and poof now you're gestalts. I'm going to adapt the Holocaust idea and play with it for a bit. Instead of a Gestalt Winter, I might have them be there at the beginning rather than at the end.

 

As for character concepts, I think I'm going to have a NASCAR Gestalt. And maybe a sunshine Gestalt.

[csyphrett]

Re: Character Idea Assistance

 

You can use Wiklpedia for ideas about gestalts. Either hit random and adapt what it gives you, or look up anthromorphic personifications or os-tans and use that to build your characters.

 

I tend to build campaigns around the players.

CES

[Big Monkey]

Re: Character Idea Assistance

 

You can use Wiklpedia for ideas about gestalts. Either hit random and adapt what it gives you' date=' or look up anthromorphic personifications or os-tans and use that to build your characters.[/quote']

 

That's an interesting idea. I ended up with viaducts, pole vaulting, money, algorithmic information theory, Disney's Epcot Center, the Hardy Boys novel "Running on Empty", and the Caribbean monk seal. I may actually be able to work with one or two of those.