Like the title says, I'm looking for collaborators on a supers campaign background because the world is just too big to fit my head alone. By collaborator I mean anyone who is interested in the thought experiment of how governments, scientists, and pop culture react to the phenomenon, and especially anyone planning to start a supers campaign who'd like to sync theirs up with mine.
Now, my campaign already exists, and while most of it is wide open including the origin of super powers in the first place, there are some things nailed down. Let me tell you about 'em here, so you'll know if any of them are deal killers.
Foremost, I'm starting with a comic book premise, that super-powered “mutants” have begun showing up in the human population, but I don't feel constrained to comic book conventions. If a mutant tried to maintain a secret identity as a costumed vigilante, the world wouldn't give him a free pass. With modern technology, his secret will probably be cracked in the first day! Also, while the campaign starts in modern, real-world earth, it will deviate more and more over time, with shifts in the geopolitical balance of power and possibly new technologies based on research into super powers.
Second, because the campaign starts in the real world, it will necessarily involve fictional versions of real people as characters in the story. Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America in the campaign present, for instance. Figuring out how the real world reacts to super powers is pretty much the point of the campaign, and I personally have little awareness of cultures outside the USA. Any poli sci buffs here?
Third, the phenomenon of super powers is not new. It happened before, and ancient supers were the kernel of truth behind the gods of myth. Something happened to suppress super powers for thousands of years, but now they're back. A key component of the collaboration will be working out the “true history” of those ancient supers. Any archeology buffs here?
Fourth, super powers correspond to genetic markers which are evenly distributed throughout the human population of the world. There are no super turtles, unless they have been empowered by a super human (or unless they were originally humans whos power is to turn into turtles). Whatever happened to the genome to cause super powers either happened before the races of man diverged, or was done to all races. Another key component of the collaboration will be working out the details of that event, including the actors behind it. Any genetics buffs here?
Fifth, there are constraints on the powers. There is only one source, in the game-mechanical sense from GURPS Powers. Nobody gets their powers through lab accidents or magic spells. “Spirits” can exist only as an aspect of a super power. Likewise, alternate universes exist only as aspects of a power. The past is fixed, powers enable you to view it, but not go there. The future isn't fixed, so powers can enable you to go there (a one-way trip) but not view it, though you might make uncanny predictions by extrapolating from the present. There is enough to make my head hurt with this concept already, before adding time travel and parallel universes and Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.
Sixth, certain things are established about the mutant phenomenon itself. There are two phenotypes, which should remind you of dichotomies from ancient myth: Olympians and Titans, Asgardians and Giants, Angels and Demons. One phenotype runs larger and produces Terror while the smaller ones produce Awe. Some mutants are “baselines” who only get enhanced physical attributes while others get additional powers that can break the laws of physics as previously understood. Mostly they're attractive, but some are weird-looking or even monstrous. Venture capital is chasing mutants to figure out how they tick, and another aspect of this collaboration is working out scientific discoveries that come from the study of mutants, taking into account that a handful of mutants are Gadgeteers.
Last but far from least, mutant nature inherently introduces adult themes: Using their powers gives them a painful urge for sex. Intoxicants can defer that need, at the price of poor impulse control but without the other debilitating effects that ordinary people would experience. It takes a megadose, because they're so resistant. Eventually, they either need a partner, or need to “power down” and be normal for four times as long as they were powered up. Sure, I may be a dirty old man, but I have several dramatic purposes for introducing this wrinkle. It's a clue that the the gods of myth were mutants (compare Nephilim, Camp Half-Blood, Freyja and the far-more-than-seven dwarves, to name a few). It's a substitute for the temptation of power, for any player who insists that his character would never think of using his abilities to gain at the expense of others. It's a complication, for anyone who thinks that mutants can fit into conventional society. It's also a bait-and-switch, something to play up for new players, only to have them gradually realize that it's a curse.
I figure the last bit may be the deal-killer, the part that's so far from the usual genre that comic book fans will want no part of it, supergirl chugging vodka to keep from jumping superman's bones. So how critical is it? Could you run a parallel campaign to mine, where mutants had no more lust than a normal teen, but otherwise the history is the same? Maybe. It would probably at least require a substitute, some thing inconvenient without which mutants must ration their powers. And it would still be the case that certain organizations would attempt to secure the cooperation of mutants by satisfying their vices; plenty of ordinary humans want sex and drugs. But even in light of those points, I think something would be missing, the challenge of how to engineer a society with two kinds of people, in which things which have worked somewhat well for one kind of people for thousands of years do not work for the second kind.
So, any takers? I first proposed this idea several pages into a different thread and got a couple of bites. The work I'll have to do will generate a return only if there's broad participation, so I'm not gonna start it until I get more expression of interest.
If I do, I'll start a new thread, reserving space for indexing at the top. It'll be called Return of the Gods (campaign share).
Now, my campaign already exists, and while most of it is wide open including the origin of super powers in the first place, there are some things nailed down. Let me tell you about 'em here, so you'll know if any of them are deal killers.
Foremost, I'm starting with a comic book premise, that super-powered “mutants” have begun showing up in the human population, but I don't feel constrained to comic book conventions. If a mutant tried to maintain a secret identity as a costumed vigilante, the world wouldn't give him a free pass. With modern technology, his secret will probably be cracked in the first day! Also, while the campaign starts in modern, real-world earth, it will deviate more and more over time, with shifts in the geopolitical balance of power and possibly new technologies based on research into super powers.
Second, because the campaign starts in the real world, it will necessarily involve fictional versions of real people as characters in the story. Barack Obama is the president of the United States of America in the campaign present, for instance. Figuring out how the real world reacts to super powers is pretty much the point of the campaign, and I personally have little awareness of cultures outside the USA. Any poli sci buffs here?
Third, the phenomenon of super powers is not new. It happened before, and ancient supers were the kernel of truth behind the gods of myth. Something happened to suppress super powers for thousands of years, but now they're back. A key component of the collaboration will be working out the “true history” of those ancient supers. Any archeology buffs here?
Fourth, super powers correspond to genetic markers which are evenly distributed throughout the human population of the world. There are no super turtles, unless they have been empowered by a super human (or unless they were originally humans whos power is to turn into turtles). Whatever happened to the genome to cause super powers either happened before the races of man diverged, or was done to all races. Another key component of the collaboration will be working out the details of that event, including the actors behind it. Any genetics buffs here?
Fifth, there are constraints on the powers. There is only one source, in the game-mechanical sense from GURPS Powers. Nobody gets their powers through lab accidents or magic spells. “Spirits” can exist only as an aspect of a super power. Likewise, alternate universes exist only as aspects of a power. The past is fixed, powers enable you to view it, but not go there. The future isn't fixed, so powers can enable you to go there (a one-way trip) but not view it, though you might make uncanny predictions by extrapolating from the present. There is enough to make my head hurt with this concept already, before adding time travel and parallel universes and Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.
Sixth, certain things are established about the mutant phenomenon itself. There are two phenotypes, which should remind you of dichotomies from ancient myth: Olympians and Titans, Asgardians and Giants, Angels and Demons. One phenotype runs larger and produces Terror while the smaller ones produce Awe. Some mutants are “baselines” who only get enhanced physical attributes while others get additional powers that can break the laws of physics as previously understood. Mostly they're attractive, but some are weird-looking or even monstrous. Venture capital is chasing mutants to figure out how they tick, and another aspect of this collaboration is working out scientific discoveries that come from the study of mutants, taking into account that a handful of mutants are Gadgeteers.
Last but far from least, mutant nature inherently introduces adult themes: Using their powers gives them a painful urge for sex. Intoxicants can defer that need, at the price of poor impulse control but without the other debilitating effects that ordinary people would experience. It takes a megadose, because they're so resistant. Eventually, they either need a partner, or need to “power down” and be normal for four times as long as they were powered up. Sure, I may be a dirty old man, but I have several dramatic purposes for introducing this wrinkle. It's a clue that the the gods of myth were mutants (compare Nephilim, Camp Half-Blood, Freyja and the far-more-than-seven dwarves, to name a few). It's a substitute for the temptation of power, for any player who insists that his character would never think of using his abilities to gain at the expense of others. It's a complication, for anyone who thinks that mutants can fit into conventional society. It's also a bait-and-switch, something to play up for new players, only to have them gradually realize that it's a curse.
I figure the last bit may be the deal-killer, the part that's so far from the usual genre that comic book fans will want no part of it, supergirl chugging vodka to keep from jumping superman's bones. So how critical is it? Could you run a parallel campaign to mine, where mutants had no more lust than a normal teen, but otherwise the history is the same? Maybe. It would probably at least require a substitute, some thing inconvenient without which mutants must ration their powers. And it would still be the case that certain organizations would attempt to secure the cooperation of mutants by satisfying their vices; plenty of ordinary humans want sex and drugs. But even in light of those points, I think something would be missing, the challenge of how to engineer a society with two kinds of people, in which things which have worked somewhat well for one kind of people for thousands of years do not work for the second kind.
So, any takers? I first proposed this idea several pages into a different thread and got a couple of bites. The work I'll have to do will generate a return only if there's broad participation, so I'm not gonna start it until I get more expression of interest.
If I do, I'll start a new thread, reserving space for indexing at the top. It'll be called Return of the Gods (campaign share).
Collaborators Wanted: Supers Campaign
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire