Always wanted to

[subplotkudzu]

 As I noodle around on my supers setting building construction kit I have a question for my hordes of fans [Listens, daffy duck-like, for crickets]. Is there any super-hero concept that you've always wanted to play but either have had the opportunity or haven't found a system that could handle it? 

In my case two spring to mind (there used to be more, but I did get to play my super smart guy and my super-strong cowboy ideas in now defunct PBEMs). 

The first is an Adam Strange style SF adventurer: a two fisted science hero with a jet-pack, ray guns and other gadgets who, while a member of the super team on contemporary earth, is actually the defender of a different planet, time or timeline. The system would have to be able to handle someone who was basically a skilled, smart normal person with flight, a good dodge and a modest energy blast - a little tricky in some systems but more a matter of lacking opportunity rather than systemic problems.

The second is someone who has a separate energy body, similar to Negative Man, Raven's Soul Self or, ideally, Antibody from the New Universe book DP7. This is much harder to work mechanically - Cambias once recommended doing it as an Ally, or perhaps it's duplication where one of the duplicates has all the powers, or something of the sort. It's a really neat idea, but finding a system that could handle it is the problem. 

This latter is one of the reasons why I'm building the supers setting construction kit: the hope of being able to simply define the characters potency, versatility, and scarcity and have it be in the world as its own distinct power - if the scarcity is high enough (or even if it's not with an oddball power like this one) my PC might be the only person with it, but it would be a quickly defined part of the world. 

Finally, as a villain I still love the idea of a mummy whose internal organs were eaten away by vermin that now occupy his body cavities. He would be able to have his eyes turn into snakes, vomit up spiders, breathe out termites and so on for a variety of nasty effects. Icky, yes, but it just sticks with me,  

Comments

[mylescorcoran]

I'm not convinced that 'Narrative based' and 'Cause based' are that different, assuming that one restricts oneself to describing things that are a) in genre for a particular power and b) match the group's consensus on what a given power can and cannot do.

'Cause based' really suggests consensus-driven descriptions and mechanics, or a strong central vision that everyone buys into.

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

I dunno. See, V&V has Cause Based powers in that you had the power and wrote down, in clear mechanics, what it could be used for. Effects couldn't be added if they didn't fit the cause - no "and I have a 10d6 energy blast because I need to have a 10d6 energy blast". That's a strong part of what I'm aiming for, and it isn't tied to the needs of the narrative as much as it is the logic of the character

For the other aspect, one reason to get everyone at the table involved in the strong central vision. If you develop a power with a clearly written central premise/cause and then buy it with a lot of versatility everyone knows what that means in play because the outlines of versatility and potency were defined by the group as the campaign was hammered out.

[mylescorcoran]

Okay, I understand that V&V required that you wrote down the mechanics for any power effect or sub-power as needed, but that there was a certain amount of leeway and fudging allowed (I seem to recall Animal Powers and Mutant Power being particularly prone to this). To me it seemed like a negotiated agreement of 'what this power can do', and that sounds hippy-gamer style to me.

It's not explicitly Narrative in the sense that it doesn't have to play to the narrative requirements, but it is very much in the broader sense (in the hobby) of Narrative as player-empowerment.

I strongly agree that Cause-based can be a rewarding and sensible approach to gaming super-powers, always accepting that it can lead to proliferation problems if let run unchecked.

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to pull this out into a fresh post today - it's worthy of longer discussion....