Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

[John Desmarais]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

My default setting closely mirrors the history of comics with super heroes (as opposed to pulp-style masked weirdos) first appear in 1938. I than have plot rationales to explain/justify the various generally accepted "ages" of comic history (Golden, Atomic, Silver, Bronze, Iron, & Modern. It also includes a Pulp era that predates GOlden). This gives me a setting I can use for any era of game that has a sense of historical depth and continuity.

[Guest steamteck]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

In my super campaign ( which is not on earth) superhumans have always been with us. The Greek gods were the superheroes of their day. Costumes are just high tech updatings of earlier methods of identfication like coats of arms and with higher tech protection than in days of yore.

[Orion]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

It really' date=' really seems like deliberately impoverishing the genre if you go with the "all superheroes appeared last Tuesday. Because of the White Event."[/quote']

 

Yes and no. It limits the genre, but I wouldn't say it impoverishes it. Of the examples you gave, there is only one (archeologists digging in ruins) that I would even consider, and it is unlikely. The rest are thing I would never use in a superhero campaign, either because I feel they don't fit it or are totally uninteresting. Some campaigns want to be catch-alls; I tend to go for a very specific feel in each, and thus toss out many possibilities based on what I want for that campaign. If anything, having superheroes around for a long time seems limiting to me, because they are no longer new and special, which is a key concept for me.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Yes and no. It limits the genre' date=' but I wouldn't say it impoverishes it. Of the examples you gave, there is only one (archeologists digging in ruins) that I would even consider, and it is unlikely. The rest are thing I would never use in a superhero campaign, either because I feel they don't fit it or are totally uninteresting. Some campaigns want to be catch-alls; I tend to go for a very specific feel in each, and thus toss out many possibilities based on what I want for that campaign. If anything, having superheroes around for a long time seems limiting to me, because they are no longer new and special, which is a key concept for me.[/quote']

 

I think that's part of why I so loved the few WWII superhero campaigns I ran; the other part being that I'm a huge depression-through-WWII-era history buff. Superheroes are NEW! And the PCs become by default standards of superherodom to the world, or at least their home country and its staunch allies.

[wrestlinggeek]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

It completely depends on the campaign I'm running. Sometimes, the PCs are the first supers anywhere ever. Somtimes superhumans have been around as long as humans, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly. Sometimes supers will appear fpr a while, disappear for a time, and then reappear. Sometimes any power origin is possible, sometimes all powers stem from tjhe same event, and sometimes there is a meta-origin which makes it possible for other power sources to work.

If I ever get the chance to run the campaign I have in mind right now, it'll be one where superhumans have always existed, but not continuously. Supers start cropping up every 40 years or so, hang around for a few years, then disappear (retire, die, lose their powers, whatever), only for their succesors to show up after 30 years or so. So there was a Golden Age in the '30s-'40s, a Silver Age in the '70s, and the PCs would be the first of the new generation.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

for my UK hero project I borrowed from a number of sources including the champions universe marvel and the laundry novels by Charles Stross.

 

super humans have existed since the dawn of time the powers come from the ability to harness higher dimensional planes. earth exists in a area of weak dimensional barriers known to the wider galactic community as Galactic Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. like other plural spaces the weak barriers result in a number of different effects genetic anomalies and complex rituals that allow access to higher dimensional energies, open up allow entry of higher dimensional beings random portals opening to other spaces not to mention memetic and morpho-genic bleed from other spaces.

 

but things have gotten a lot worse lately the usual periodic flux of the barriers between dimensions coincided with the 20th century the first world war and Spanish flu lead to a massive pulse of psycho-spiritual energy(AKA Chi QI souls life energy) which weakened the barriers even more at the same time as technology massively increased in sophistication suddenly the ability to tap those higher energies became much easier much more potent suddenly more and more powered individuals started to appear.

 

meanwhile the social and political upheaval continued when WWII happened the power represented by those thinning walls was immense, mystical artefacts regained there power seemingly impossible technology became possible and a war amongst mystical power began in earnest and gods walked the earth. Mostly the mystical an super technological forces balanced them selves out

 

the final days of the war resulted in two major events that further weakened the dimensional barriers significantly the first was the last stand of the Nazi occult services Operation HEXENWOLF the occult version of WERWOLF which created a commando force to work behind allied lines on the advance. There final confrontation with the allies occult forces took place in Norway Vergeltungswaffe-endgültigen aka V Omega a massive necromantic to alchemical channelling that would turn a mountain into uranium and basically destroy all life on earth funnelling the release of energy into another dimension making the Nazi wizards into gods. They where stopped by a combined by the allies not without great loss many of the allies occult and superhuman capability was lost in that final secret battle in Norway.

 

The other was the Manhattan project the detonation of the intense release of energy from atomic bombs caused localised weaknesses in the dimensional membranes this has resulted in an upswing in a variety of unusual activities around the south-western united states pacific islands parts of Russia and Japan.

 

that has been the status-quo since then technology keeps getting better but the truly super-technology requires access to the higher planes that is unreliable and can only be efficiently created by those with the mutated brain structures that allow them to tap into higher dimension memetics more commonly called super scientists.

[drunkonduty]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

@freakboy6117

 

I really like the sound of your campaign background. I think I might have to yoink it for the next time I run a campaign.

 

cheers. :-)

[Cassandra]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Let's say that Superhumans begin showing up today.

 

If the first superhuman is a Superman like hero, one who saves innocent lives and is followed by other like minded individuals then the public would readily accept them. The U.S. Government would attempt to recruit super humans as operatives, and would try and discover if there was a single origin or explanation for their powers.

 

If the majority of super humans used their powers for personal gain, or if they were destructive whether meaning to be or not, then the public would quickly turn on them. The Government would move against them using military forces and depending on the power levels of the super humans they would eventually be overwhelmed by shear numbers.

[matrix3]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Let's say that Superhumans begin showing up today.

 

If the first superhuman is a Superman like hero, one who saves innocent lives and is followed by other like minded individuals then the public would readily accept them. The U.S. Government would attempt to recruit super humans as operatives, and would try and discover if there was a single origin or explanation for their powers.

 

If the majority of super humans used their powers for personal gain, or if they were destructive whether meaning to be or not, then the public would quickly turn on them. The Government would move against them using military forces and depending on the power levels of the super humans they would eventually be overwhelmed by shear numbers.

 

"shear numbers"?

 

I have to picture hordes of army guys swarming over Superman and giving him a buzz cut.

 

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

With kryptonite shears, no doubt!

[Greywind]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Let's say that Superhumans begin showing up today.

 

If the first superhuman is a Superman like hero, one who saves innocent lives and is followed by other like minded individuals then the public would readily accept them. The U.S. Government would attempt to recruit super humans as operatives, and would try and discover if there was a single origin or explanation for their powers.

 

If the majority of super humans used their powers for personal gain, or if they were destructive whether meaning to be or not, then the public would quickly turn on them. The Government would move against them using military forces and depending on the power levels of the super humans they would eventually be overwhelmed by shear numbers.

That's not counting the ones that end up squirreled away in secret labs being analyzed, dissected, vivisected...

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

From some points of view, in the real world superhumans stopped appearing a few hundred years ago. I've had some worlds in which they started appearing in the 1890's to 1930's, and some where they never stopped appearing. (The ancient Greek, Roman, Norse, etc. gods, heroes, etc.? Super. Gilgamesh? Super. All of the sorcerers and wizards and alchemists? Super. Vampires, werewolves, fey, greys... super.)

 

The 17th century was a really bad time for anyone with powers, what with all the witch burnings in 1692 and all.

[esampson]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

. . .The 17th century was a really bad time for anyone with powers' date=' what with all the witch burnings in 1692 and all.[/quote']

Well, I would suspect that most of the people who were burned probably were people without powers. People who actually had superpowers would run/fly/desolidfy/etc. away or just stand there with their really high PD/ED and life support in such a campaign.

 

Cassandra's earlier example of newly appearing supers reminded me of Rising Stars, by JMS, by the way.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

From some points of view' date=' in the real world superhumans [i']stopped[/i] appearing a few hundred years ago. I've had some worlds in which they started appearing in the 1890's to 1930's, and some where they never stopped appearing. (The ancient Greek, Roman, Norse, etc. gods, heroes, etc.? Super. Gilgamesh? Super. All of the sorcerers and wizards and alchemists? Super. Vampires, werewolves, fey, greys... super.)

 

The 17th century was a really bad time for anyone with powers, what with all the witch burnings in 1692 and all.

point well taken repped

[assault]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

The 17th century was a really bad time for anyone with powers' date=' what with all the witch burnings in 1692 and all.[/quote']

 

Depends where you were, of course.

 

In England, the late 17th century would have been a golden age for some supers.

[Cassandra]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

No one was every burn as a witch on the North American Continent.

 

They were hung.

[Christopher]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Well' date=' I would suspect that most of the people who were burned probably were people without powers. People who actually had superpowers would run/fly/desolidfy/etc. away or just stand there with their really high PD/ED and life support in such a campaign. [/quote']

The logic was rather simple:

If they survived, they were guilty.

If not, they found death in "good christian way", absolved of all sins and would go to heaven.

[esampson]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

My real point was that ironically most of those who were actual punished would have been innocent, while the guilty would have probably been able to escape (not that it would have been all fun and games from them or anything).

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

The logic was rather simple:

If they survived, they were guilty.

If not, they found death in "good christian way", absolved of all sins and would go to heaven.

 

IIRC, that was the justification of many "approved methods" of detecting whether someone was actually a witch. Of course, everybody died when tested this way in real life, so it was posited that the ordeal gave a which a chance to repent before dying, allowing her one last chance at Salvation. Eventually, most realized that this was no way to treat someone who could be found innocent (and might just be crazy and not actually demon-possessed) and the practice died out.

[Greywind]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Not to mention that all it took was an accusation to get someone you didn't like out of your way.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Not to mention that all it took was an accusation to get someone you didn't like out of your way.

 

I think people began to suspect that might be going on. In any case, it stopped. I wonder what the convincers were?

[freakboy6117]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

Baloo just been reading one of the 1632 books by Eric Flint where they mention witch hunting and it suggests that the main thing is economic witch hunting is expensive you have to pay for the trials the witch-finders the propaganda to stoke up the fires in communities etc. so basically the main thing is cutting off the funding certainly seems to be the case with more modern cases like the macarthy era and modern African problem with people killing so called "witch children"

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

I've been reading that series sporadically. I did not, however, understand your explanation. Would you please elaborate?

[Opale]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

I had the chance to play an Aberrant RPG Campaign and the GM made us been part of the first wave of superpowered individuals in the world ;myself getting even involved in the discovery of the MR Node, WHich became the MRB Node due to my character researches about it. It added alot of interest in the Game to know we were part of the Starting point.

For instance we played in Canada, Montreal, and our group became the first line of defense for the Canadian Army.

Except when a setting is already made in a RPG, I tend to make now my players be the "first heroes" appearing. It gives more freedom and dramatic opportunities.

 

Aberrant Opale.

[Steve]

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

 

I always suspected Opale was an aberrant woman, and now I know for sure!