Realistic campaign with unrealistic/supernatural people

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Malfi

I was actually leaning towards supernatural is known in the world, but still very difficult for people to develop supernatural abilities. Maybe the supernatural abilities simply require training, but people don't have much control on what abilities they develop their subconcisous does.
In general I haven't settled on an exact setting, that's why I wanted to hear other peoples experiences.

What do you want the campaign to be like? What are the PCs going to be doing in this setting? Action/Adventure? Cloak-N-Dagger? High School Romance Soap Opera? Figuring that out will probably help you to decide a lot of the details you're asking about.

[Black Leviathan]

I'd definitely take notes from White Wolf. They've covered a lot of ground in the genre and worked out most of the kinks. If you want your supernatural elements to be behind the curtain look at the World of Darkness for how those secrets are kept. If you want examples of how a world deals with an emerging supernatural threat have a look at Aberrant.

Realistic things you'd want to look at are;
How does supernatural power impact the economy?
How does the world protect itself from supernatural people?
Is the Supernatural a threat or a boon to religions?
Does the media worship or demonize supernatural people?
What laws are imposed on supernaturals by their own society?

[Malfi]

So fluff wise I am leaning towards the secrets of magic have been revealed due to the information revolution and people can technically train a lot do the excercises (or whatever) and gain the power. However without a master to apprentice under they can't control what abilities they manifest and the process can be dangerous, also if you are unwillingly exposed to such abilities there is a miniscule chance that under specific extreme conditions you can manifest powers automatically. To add to this entities from other dimensions can be drawn to such magic, though this also happens rarely.
So there is a surge of supernatural in the world, but not an overwhelming one.
Rules wise I always wanted to have a campaign where players get disadvantages if they invest in supernatural abilities, but not to the point their character becomes unplayable or unfun. So the more you develop your occult powers the more inhuman or evil or righteous or whatever you become.

Originally Posted by khorboth

I recommend the Secret World Chronicle for this sort of thing. It's a podcast/book which has superheroes living openly in a realistic world. And it's entertaining.

Some highlights:

It's US based, and there are implications that while the rest of the world mostly followed the US example, there are differences.

There are strict laws about when supers can apply their powers. Mostly, they can do things for themselves and on their own property, but anything that affects others must be strictly consensual.

For crime-fighting, supers must be registered, and may only fight crime as part of a team. Unless there is imminent danger to lives (not property) or the suspect is known to be superpowered, law enforcement must be left to the normals. Additionally, one member of the team is strictly assigned as the safety officer and may only protect bystanders and prevent property damage. The safety officer MAY NOT engage the villain under any circumstances. The team must be registered as part of the governmental agency which also carries insurance to cover collateral damage.

A branch of the governmental agency rates supers on power level. There are guidelines, but it is ultimately subjective and is really only about combat effectiveness.

There is an aid organization to help people whose super/mutation is so unfortunate that they cannot lead normal lives.

Public sentiment is very mixed. Some people look up to and/or idolize the supers. Some people think we'd be better off without them. Some people think they are the literal embodiment of evil.

Some supers choose to use their powers for celebrity. There's lots of money to be made in movies, punditry, social media etc.

I think these fit in such a world very well, I will check this out.

Originally Posted by Varyon

While it's a narrative rather than a game*, the web serial Worm - and its on-going sequel, Ward - may be worth a look. In that, the supernatural is in the form of superpowers (it's a superhero story, albeit a deconstruction of the genre), which are known and studied, but you can't really get them on purpose. Basically, to get a superpower, you have to be "triggered" in a certain way by extreme physical, mental, and/or emotional stressors, in a manner one character described as "the worst day of your life." Skitter got her powers from being trapped in a locker filled with rotting, used tampons. Grue got his powers from finding his sister in tears from being abused by her mom's boyfriend (and subsequently beating said boyfriend within an inch or two of his life). Imp got her powers from being cornered in an alley by a gang of thugs intent on killing her father and raping her. Attempts to purposefully trigger are known to be doomed to failure. The powers themselves are unpredictable, but believed to be related to the manner in which the character triggered (of the above, Imp's is the easiest to link to her trigger - she makes people forget she exists), although there's some thought that the character's personality may play a role. Interestingly, family members (including, bizarrely, adopted family members, or people who are like family) of existing parahumans trigger more easily, and often have thematically-related powers (Glory Girl and her mom both have forcefield-related powers, while a kid in a quasi-orphanage under Skitter's protection develops bird-controlling powers).

Despite the powers, the setting is rather gritty and fairly realistic, with a healthy respect for firearms and the like. The characters have to be careful to avoid accidentally killing people with their powers (Skitter, a bug-controller, carries epipens in case someone has an allergic reaction to a bug bite).

*Interestingly, I know there was at least one case - probably a few cases - where there was a slight bit of a game element to it, with the author literally rolling dice (with modifiers based on the relevant character's powers and placement in the scenario) to determine who lived and who died during a particularly brutal story arc.

I recently read the whole of it, Worm not Wards, I got burned out at some point during Wards, chapter 7 I think.
Still a great read.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

What do you want the campaign to be like? What are the PCs going to be doing in this setting? Action/Adventure? Cloak-N-Dagger? High School Romance Soap Opera? Figuring that out will probably help you to decide a lot of the details you're asking about.

Not 100% sure yet. Action/adventure seem pretty standard, but I am also considering discovery as a theme. Discovery of other dimensions and secret magic lore maybe.

[Malfi]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I'd definitely take notes from White Wolf. They've covered a lot of ground in the genre and worked out most of the kinks. If you want your supernatural elements to be behind the curtain look at the World of Darkness for how those secrets are kept. If you want examples of how a world deals with an emerging supernatural threat have a look at Aberrant.

Realistic things you'd want to look at are;
How does supernatural power impact the economy?
How does the world protect itself from supernatural people?
Is the Supernatural a threat or a boon to religions?
Does the media worship or demonize supernatural people?
What laws are imposed on supernaturals by their own society?

Yeah what I am thinking about is propably closer to aberrant, I will check it out.
Considering the way I see magic in this setting is "basically anything" it will be hard to answer these questions, but still good food for thought.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Malfi

Not 100% sure yet. Action/adventure seem pretty standard, but I am also considering discovery as a theme. Discovery of other dimensions and secret magic lore maybe.

You might enjoy the campaign documented in this thread.

[khorboth]

If it's dangerous but could give power and could bring bad stuff... Teens will be seen as a problem.

Montage:

If you don't talk to your kids about magic... who will?...

Today, on a VERY SPECIAL episode of stranger things...

Hi, kids. Thank you all for coming to the assembly today. This is Mr. Molakh. He's a real mage. He's here to talk to you all about the dangers of practicing magic without a proper teacher. Please give him your FULL attention...

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Malfi

I was actually leaning towards supernatural is known in the world, but still very difficult for people to develop supernatural abilities. Maybe the supernatural abilities simply require training, but people don't have much control on what abilities they develop their subconcisous does.
In general I haven't settled on an exact setting, that's why I wanted to hear other peoples experiences.

Then the real issue is how the rest of the world reacts. At a minimum, there will be regulations, and some supernaturals will comply, some will enforce them, and some will violate them. Things may vary by jurisdiction, of course, which makes a far-ranging campaign all the more interesting.
At a maximum, there will be a world war of the naturals against the supernaturals.

[Rasna]

Originally Posted by Malfi

Hello everyone.

Any advice on how to run a realistic/gritty campaign where players and enemies have supernatural powers? So normal people cannot do superhuman things but powers/magic in the vein of hunter x hunter anime do exist (i know in hunter x hunter normal humans are insanely unrealistic but I am talking about Nen's fluff).

Anyone has run such a campaign? Was it successful? What worked and what didn't? Any cool ideas?

Thanks in advance for answering!

Yes. Currently I'm running a campaign that includes one PC and two NPCs with supernatural powers. It's a very low-fantasy world based on historical Western Europe in the 1290's (same technology and similar societies).

The supernatural powers are in fact "magic", but only 1 in a 1.000 people has some kind of power and only 1 in a 10.000 people has significant supernatural capacities. It's mostly a working form of Ritual Magic and, although culturally tied with religion in game, it doesn't imply that deities really existed in the setting (most practitioners are part of the clergy, but the supernatural powers don't come from deities, although usually who uses these powers also believes that they're of divine nature).

The power come mostly in the form of supernatural perception and visions or very unusual physical and mental traits (1 in a 1.000). The most gifted practitioners (1 in a 10.000) are capable of doing working rituals, shaping, controlling and directing the "Mana" to make things otherwise impossible. Nothing is created by nothing. For example, a mage needs to subtract energy and matter from a properly made sacrifice in order to heal someone from a wound, and the efficiency is quite low (most of the energy is "burned" in the act of controlling the "Mana").

Even with a supernatural level this low, the impact on setting is remarkably high. Individuals with supernatural powers tend to occupy higher social positions and often keep their supernatural abilities secret. Members of higher classes are more likely to live long, especially rulers, generals and high status clergymen. Military and politic are affected principally in the act of gathering informations, since two expert mages can communicate via ritual while they are far away from each other, and the PCs are by far more likely to survive with a mage in their group (especially in the aftermath of a battle or in situations where is strictly recommended avoiding the danger).