World with superheroes - Only one power set?

[phydaux]

Superhero power sets come in all manner of combinations & variaties.

 

What power set or combination of powers would be most interesting in a world with superheroes & supervillians, but all heroes & villians had the same power set?

 

And I'm not just talking super agents, but honest-to-god "I laugh at your AK-47" superpowers.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

If they are all the same you are essentially creating a new species/culture (Elves, Vampires, Mutants, Newcomers etc...) to live along side the 'puny' humans. I can't think of any set of abilities that wouldn't get boring eventually in that sort of setting.

[phydaux]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

If they are all the same you are essentially creating a new species/culture (Elves' date=' Vampires, Mutants, Newcomers etc...) to live along side the 'puny' humans. I can't think of any set of abilities that wouldn't get boring eventually in that sort of setting.[/quote']

 

Hmm... See, I've been playing a lot of SW:TOR lately and I realized that the Star Wars universe is basically a super hero setting. Sure you have plenty of compatent normals, but Sith & Jedi are just on a whole other level.

 

So then I started thinking about the Jedi & comic books, and how the Jedi are an aweful lot like The Authority - "We will being peace & justice to the Galaxcy even if it means chopping the heads off ALL YOU MF'res with our lightsabers! Republic? We'll defend you. But we won't answer to you. And sometimes we won't even defend you it it doesn't align with our goals."

 

So then I thought maybe an interesting game setting would be Star Wars where the players are disillusioned Jedi - There're not Sith because they're not "evil" but as the same time they're tired of working within the system, but if they step outside the system then they'ed have their own people hunting them.

 

Then I thought "What if I kept all the Jedi/Authority stuff, but set it on modern Earth?"

 

Then I thought "Well, what if they're not Jedi? What if they had a different power set all together?" And that got me thinking about the Green Lantern Corps and I didn't want to entirely go there.

 

And then I thought "Wait, isn't this the plot of every one of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novels?"

 

And then I remembered that Cold Days comes out next month in hardback and I TOTALLY can't wait.

 

And THEN I remembered that I need to refil the script for my ADD meds.

[psyber624]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

I dont know, there have been several successful stories/games where this is actually the case. Although even in them you get some fluctuation of powers. Like Hyperman said you are basically talking about another "race". In that case any vampire, werewolf, mage concept basically fits the bill (as long as there are not multiple different kinds of supernatural).

 

If you are talking about something more rigid (like all supers have flight, or the same energy beam, or what have you) then it becomes much more difficult to keep it interesting, but I believe a really GOOD GM could pull it off. Just have to make sure the campaign is less about the powers and more about the people who have them.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

wuxia level powers

[csyphrett]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

All of the Wild Cards were based on TK.

CES

[Doc Samson]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

IMHO the superhero genre is a mixing of various power sets. When you refine it to one, you essentially have another genre.

 

For example:

Everyone has magic or magic weapons - Fanatsy

Everyone has mental powers, cybernetics, or high-tech equipment - Sci-Fi

Everyone has powered armor - Sci-Fi or Anime

Everyone has martial arts - Asian Fantasy or Anime

[esampson]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

All of the Wild Cards were based on TK.

CES

A lot of them were but hardly all of them. Brain Trust, Dead Head, Demise, Digger Downs, Envoy, the Jumpers, Kid Dinosaur, Popinjay, Puppetman, Roulette, Ti Malice, and Wraith are all examples of Aces that didn't exhibit any form of telekinesis. Croyd and Mark Meadows might sometimes exhibit TK but that wasn't really the basis of their Ace ability.

[Steve]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

You might be able to get a fair bit of mileage out of something like a powered armor only campaign. It would have a high-tech feel, and you could mine Marvel's "Iron Man" or the anime "Bubblegum Crisis" for ideas.

 

If powers need to come from the person, then the Hulk or Kryptonian abilities as the one powerset could be explored, I suppose.

 

Imagine a world of "all Bricks" or "all Powered Armor" for superhumans, I suppose is what the OP is asking.

[Doc Samson]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

There are so many different lantern types in DC now that it might work too.

[esampson]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

A lot of it probably depends upon the 'flavor' of the game you are trying to run. On one end you could easily go with the 'standard' super set of flight, super strength, and invulnerability (and optionally they might all have some form of energy projection). Heroes and villains both dress up in colorful costumes, use code names, and most probably maintain some form of secret identity.

 

On the opposite end of the spectrum you've got people who are a bit faster, stronger, and tougher than normal humans (30 str isn't that uncommon and some might even reach 40, PD and ED in the 10-15 range with possibly a few points being resistant, etc.). Another possibility would be that everyone has mental powers (telepathy, mental blast, mental illusions, mind control, etc.). In such a campaign people might maintain secret identities and wear costumes similar to a street level Champions campaign or they might not even do that behaving more like the characters of Alphas and relying upon the general ignorance of humanity at large to allow them to hide among society.

[wcw43921]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

Hmm... See, I've been playing a lot of SW:TOR lately and I realized that the Star Wars universe is basically a super hero setting. Sure you have plenty of compatent normals, but Sith & Jedi are just on a whole other level.

 

So then I started thinking about the Jedi & comic books, and how the Jedi are an aweful lot like The Authority - "We will being peace & justice to the Galaxcy even if it means chopping the heads off ALL YOU MF'res with our lightsabers! Republic? We'll defend you. But we won't answer to you. And sometimes we won't even defend you it it doesn't align with our goals."

 

So then I thought maybe an interesting game setting would be Star Wars where the players are disillusioned Jedi - There're not Sith because they're not "evil" but as the same time they're tired of working within the system, but if they step outside the system then they'ed have their own people hunting them.

 

Sounds interesting--would this be set in the prequel era? Sometime after the fall of the Empire? Earlier? Later?

 

Just before the prequels might be interesting--the player-Jedi could be out there working outside the law to guard peace and justice, and they discover evidence that the Sith are preparing their comeback. They try and warn the Jedi Council, but because they left the Order they are regarded with--well, let's call it skepticism. This leaves the renegades to attempt to destroy the Sith by themselves--Good Luck with that, guys.

[phoenix240]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

I think it could work. If you went, for example, with the "FISS" power set (Flight, Invulnerability, Superstrength, Speed) all supers wouldn't have to have the same rating in everything and could develop different power stunts and tactics that set them apart. Personality and motivation would be much more important in keeping character distinct and interesting and I'd suggest keeping the superhuman population low, much lower than in a "standard" comic book world.

[Mathew]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

i played in a game once where we had a variety of powers, but we dimensional traveled into a world were all the supers were flying brick types, MASSIVE bricks. subtle powers like mind powers and shapeshifting were unknown. I was a shapeshifter and my friend a mentalist. We had to survive, and get back our traveling machine in a world where most supers could snap us in half, but no one had heard of shapeshifting. I often ended up turning into either a civilian who would manipulate a hero's ego into doing work for me, or if no supers were around, I'd turn into one of the big brick heroes tell the "citizens" to "stand aside... Clear the room! This looks like a job for..." and get them to leave me alone with the device I had to steal to get back home.

[assault]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

I think the "all power armour/high tech" setting would work.

 

Iron Man: Armored Adventures works pretty well. Of course they do also have alien technology and martial arts as well, but these are both reasonable extensions of the theme.

 

A FISS setting would work, provided that there was also effective supertech to counter them. In other words, there needs to be a Dr Sivana or Luthor to oppose the Big Red Cheese or Superman.

 

A lot also depends on how flexible you want to be about human capabilities. Can Batman exist in this setting? It doesn't matter if he is outclassed by the supers - can he face other normals without dying a Real World-style abrupt and pointless death? If so, the setting contains a lot more options.

[Ninja-Bear]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

Last summer I ran a Supers Martial arts game. In it I had a speedster and a brick subtype characters. It can work to have one power set, it just takes a little bit of imagination to individualize the characters. I think phoenix240 FISS example would work well. The only hitch from the start would be defining invulnerability. I think that when people hear the word, they assume (as I do) that nothing can hurt them. so a better definition of invulnerable would be in order.

[Stephen Mann]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

I had an idea several years ago involving Norse deities summoned during WWII, but that was lost during a computer crash. The main idea had the Nazis summoning Thor and convincing him to help them. On their second attempt, they got Loki, who backstabbed Thor and jumped ship to the Allies. Before he "died", Thor gave some of his power to a number of German soldiers. Loki trained a bunch of Allied soldiers. The end result was that Germany had a bunch of weather-controlling bricks and the allies had magicians/illusionists. Loki disappeared after his initial students stopped training with him, and no one knows what happened to him or where he is.

[Orion]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

Depending on how you define mental powers to work, you could have just those and still have what resembles a pretty standard comic book world. In Julian May's Many Colored Land series, psionics is broken down into 5 categories: creativity (energy and matter manipulation), psychokinesis (standard TK and force fields), redaction (mental and physical healing), coercion (mind control), and farsensing (clairvoyance, telepathy). So, just with this you can have the standard FISS types, mentalists, and energy blasters.

[phydaux]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

I think it could work. If you went' date=' for example, with the "FISS" power set (Flight, Invulnerability, Superstrength, Speed) all supers wouldn't have to have the same rating in everything and could develop different power stunts and tactics that set them apart. Personality and motivation would be much more important in keeping character distinct and interesting and I'd suggest keeping the superhuman population low, much lower than in a "standard" comic book world.[/quote']

 

I wanted to keep the Jedi feel, but I didn't want it to BE Star Wars, so no lightsabers.

 

I was thinking Danger Sense, FF, TK, Super Leap, +Dex/+SPD, maybe some EB to augment the TK. Then, like your idea, not everyone gets the same amount of each power.

[phydaux]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

Sounds interesting--would this be set in the prequel era? Sometime after the fall of the Empire? Earlier? Later?

 

Just before the prequels might be interesting--the player-Jedi could be out there working outside the law to guard peace and justice, and they discover evidence that the Sith are preparing their comeback. They try and warn the Jedi Council, but because they left the Order they are regarded with--well, let's call it skepticism. This leaves the renegades to attempt to destroy the Sith by themselves--Good Luck with that, guys.

 

I really wanted the setting to be modern times, plus Jedis. So you've got all the modern nations, you've got the UN, but you've also got the Jedi who answer to NONE of them.

 

So if one country invades another the President gets a polite message from the Jedi temple - "Mr. President, withdraw your army. If come 7:00 AM tomorrow your army isn't withdrawn, a team of Jedi will come to your capital. Don't worry, Mr. President. We won't kill you tomorrow. We'll start with your children first."

[Maccabe]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

Actually the old VISIONAIRES comic book contained heroes & villians who all had the same power-Shapeshift. In the television series is was more of a Multiform thing though. In either case it was just that there was a variety of "animals" that each group contained. So all the characters would have the same "power" but differences in specifics.

[Shadow Hawk]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

This sounds like a 'limited origin' campaign... a handful of groups of metahumans with similar origins. Ripping off from various authors...

 

The Jedi are a extra-national orginzation using a mix of martial arts and psi to manipulate world events. (George Lucas)

Thier rivals/competitors include...

 

The Black Collar, founded in communist Russia, used martial arts plus biochemical enhancement to prevent the Jedi from interfering in "internal affairs of the peace loving Soviet Union". (Timothy Zahn)

 

C.O.B.R.A., the United States response to the Russian Black Collars, cyborgs. (Also Timothy Zahn)

 

The Night Tigers, the PRC's response to both the Soviets and the U.S. It took one heck of a bribe to convince Chuin to train dozens of martial artists some of the secrets of Sinanju...

 

The Hashaseen, not all 'secret societies' are benevolant. The Old Man of the Mountain trains his operatives in disguise, stealth, and assassination, delivering the message in the blood of thier enemies: obey or be next. (history and legend).

 

I'm sure others could add more. So, the PCs are members of one of these groups and the only metahumans are part of one of these groups...

[Burrito Boy]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

This sounds like a 'limited origin' campaign... a handful of groups of metahumans with similar origins. Ripping off from various authors...

 

The Jedi are a extra-national orginzation using a mix of martial arts and psi to manipulate world events. (George Lucas)

Thier rivals/competitors include...

 

The Black Collar, founded in communist Russia, used martial arts plus biochemical enhancement to prevent the Jedi from interfering in "internal affairs of the peace loving Soviet Union". (Timothy Zahn)

 

C.O.B.R.A., the United States response to the Russian Black Collars, cyborgs. (Also Timothy Zahn)

 

The Night Tigers, the PRC's response to both the Soviets and the U.S. It took one heck of a bribe to convince Chuin to train dozens of martial artists some of the secrets of Sinanju...

 

The Hashaseen, not all 'secret societies' are benevolant. The Old Man of the Mountain trains his operatives in disguise, stealth, and assassination, delivering the message in the blood of thier enemies: obey or be next. (history and legend).

 

I'm sure others could add more. So, the PCs are members of one of these groups and the only metahumans are part of one of these groups...

 

You mentioned Chiun and Sinanju but forgot to write (Sapir and Murphy). Plus, you misspelled Chiun's name, you pale piece of pig's ear.

[assault]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

So if one country invades another the President gets a polite message from the Jedi temple - "Mr. President' date=' withdraw your army. If come 7:00 AM tomorrow your army isn't withdrawn, a team of Jedi will come to your capital. Don't worry, Mr. President. We won't kill you tomorrow. We'll start with your children first."[/quote']

 

Jedi, Sith, whatever...

[phydaux]

Re: World with superheroes - Only one power set?

 

I really wanted the setting to be modern times, plus Jedis. So you've got all the modern nations, you've got the UN, but you've also got the Jedi who answer to NONE of them.

 

So if one country invades another the President gets a polite message from the Jedi temple - "Mr. President, withdraw your army. If come 7:00 AM tomorrow your army isn't withdrawn, a team of Jedi will come to your capital. Don't worry, Mr. President. We won't kill you tomorrow. We'll start with your children first."

 

Jedi' date=' Sith, whatever...[/quote']

 

Hmmm... I guess you're right. Decidedly Iron Age. Well, I did mention The Authority, didn't I?