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Old 09-20-2019, 03:01 PM   #11
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

Especially if Reproductive Control [1] is common or ubiquitous among powered women.
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Old 09-20-2019, 03:08 PM   #12
Varyon
 
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

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Originally Posted by Donny Brook View Post
I think by the time you reach 1050 history will have been so completely changed that anything we postulate about it would be fantasy rather than speculation.
There could be a good deal of inertia in play, but then we’d expect a lot more to remain essentially the same. If there’s enough inertia for Genghis Khan to still exist, he’s more likely to have been born a sufficiently powerful super (and to have recruited several more, or perhaps to have been a large-scale Gifter) to have been successful in his campaigns, rather than him somehow managing to exist (despite not being born until a century and a half after the divergence) yet failing.

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Summonable is a modifier for Allies, not Signature Gear. The mind boggles at how it would work as a power. Why bother to make such a rule against Snatcher?
The idea seems simple enough (you have set Signature Gear that you can summon and dismiss as needed), but I agree it shouldn’t be valid. I’d suggest instead having an appropriate Cosmic Payload (Signature Gear Only is probably worth around -50%, but I could probably be convinced to give a greater discount), or possibly build the items as Metatronic Generators.
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Old 09-20-2019, 03:57 PM   #13
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

What about every legend concerning loyal weapons that return to their owners, like Mjolnir? Would that not be Summonable Signature Gear (perhaps modified as suggested in Supers)?
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Old 09-20-2019, 04:09 PM   #14
Aldric
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
What about every legend concerning loyal weapons that return to their owners, like Mjolnir? Would that not be Summonable Signature Gear (perhaps modified as suggested in Supers)?
I'd probably stat such a weapons as an AA ranged attack (to the normale melee attack) with the gadget limitation, and say the weapon flies to the target and comes back immediately is just fluff, and be done with it.

I also think a super with the right combination of powers early on, could significantly change history as we know it.
More so if he ends up being long lived or outright immortal. A warlord could form an empire that wouldn't end immediately after his death.

Also, I'm not so sure existing dynasties would fare so well, early on a super is much more likely to appear among the common people simply because there is more of them, which could trigger a revolution that never happened in our timeline.

On to design a super that could, assuming he gains his powers right away, completely rule the world 1000 years later...
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Old 09-20-2019, 10:29 PM   #15
naloth
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
What about every legend concerning loyal weapons that return to their owners, like Mjolnir? Would that not be Summonable Signature Gear (perhaps modified as suggested in Supers)?
There are a lot of ways to represent loyal weapons, but Signature Gear (SG)doesn't really do the trick even when it isn't summon-able. Mjolnir doesn't work for others (ala an advantage represented as an item with "Cannot be Stolen"), couldn't be bought at any cost (no $$$ to figure its SG cost), and it does things that aren't possible with equipment*.

*Not just returning. It's also effectively indestructible even when Thor uses it in ways that a VH hammer that was just SG wouldn't survive. Remember SG has plot protection from the GM breaking it or taking away. SG doesn't protect any item you use in ways that would destroy that item, nor does it help if you give the item away.
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Old 09-21-2019, 08:50 AM   #16
Varyon
 
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
What about every legend concerning loyal weapons that return to their owners, like Mjolnir? Would that not be Summonable Signature Gear (perhaps modified as suggested in Supers)?
Was the returning aspect of Mjolnir even in the original myths? I specifically recall one where Thor has to disguise himself as a woman (specifically, as the goddess the thief demanded be sent to him as a bride to get the hammer back) to get it back after it’s stolen, which seems like a lot of effort if he could just hold out his hand and have it fly back to him with a nifty sound effect. Most older stories where an item has a “returning” aspect, it isn’t a case of it being summonable in some way, but rather a serendipitous return of some sort (it seems to “find its way back” somehow), which seems appropriate for normal Signature Gear, honestly (that’s its plot protection in play). For a weapon to be summonable, either the character needs an appropriate enabling trait, or the weapon does. Just doubling the cost of Signature Gear isn’t going to cut it (unless weapons can simply be made “summonable” for double price).
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Old 09-23-2019, 06:56 AM   #17
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

So, what type of changes would you think that you would see in a world of supers starting in 1000 AD? Do you think that the nobility would marry supers in order to make the aristocracy truly superior to the peasantry or do you think they would have been replaced by supers? Do you think technology would have continued to advance or the civilization have been stuck at TL3 or TL4? Which societies would have embraced and prospered with supers and which societies would have not?
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Old 09-23-2019, 07:04 AM   #18
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

At first, the established rulers would race to recruit powered individuals to use in the perennial conflicts that were common at the time. In short order the powered individuals would turf the established rulers in favor of themselves and the prior states and social structures would be radically altered.
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Old 09-23-2019, 07:12 AM   #19
naloth
 
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
So, what type of changes would you think that you would see in a world of supers starting in 1000 AD? Do you think that the nobility would marry supers in order to make the aristocracy truly superior to the peasantry or do you think they would have been replaced by supers? Do you think technology would have continued to advance or the civilization have been stuck at TL3 or TL4? Which societies would have embraced and prospered with supers and which societies would have not?
All of those questions depend on how powerful supers are, what powers are common, and which people manifest powers.

In the beginning aristocracy would certainly try control supers either by title, marriage, or some other means. That might work if powers are genetic and the percentage of supers is low enough. If powers manifest spontaneously (or enough so) or there a high percentage of powered people, then "might makes right" systems will see a lot of turnover.

If super genius powers are common, intuitive leaps could progress technology very rapidly. If powered people are available to do something we normally do with tools (mass transit, communication, heavy lifting), then the need for a technological solution may never be needed.
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Old 09-23-2019, 07:51 AM   #20
Flyndaran
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Default Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]

Super geniuses would allow anachronistic technologies outside of their expected settings more than uplift the entire TL, IMO.
There probably would be regular geniuses and scientists working on fully realizing the potential of some super's inventions and thus increasing the over all TL though.
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