Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-01-2018, 04:57 PM   #31
tshiggins
 
tshiggins's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Well, if she was undetectable, she could survive longer.
True, but if she's able to affect the real world, then somebody will be able to track her down.
__________________
--
MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
tshiggins is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2018, 05:03 PM   #32
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
I like this idea a lot more than most superhero concepts, but let's be clear -- her life expectancy will be measured in weeks. At best.

That makes her a great plot device, but as a character her vast multitude of enemies would drive the campaign.
I'm not sure she's even a good plot device. Ignoring the dubiety of using mind control to force openmindedness on people I can't really think of a good plot that calls for her.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2018, 05:13 PM   #33
tshiggins
 
tshiggins's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
I'm not sure she's even a good plot device. Ignoring the dubiety of using mind control to force openmindedness on people I can't really think of a good plot that calls for her.
The plot is not what she does, it's trying to protect her from all the people who want to kill her because she can do it.
__________________
--
MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
tshiggins is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2018, 06:44 PM   #34
PTTG
 
PTTG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Where's my ten-foot-pole? Ah, nevermind...

A young, idealistic genius sees his or her parents die due to cancer and heart failure while the insurance companies refused coverage. Almost penniless, the child is taken in by an eccentric relative who reveals the presence of an ancient magical order that for thousands of years kept itself secret from the world.

The child is overawed, and what's more, is shocked to find that common spells could have cured their parents, and many others besides. Vowing to master the healing arts of magic, the child had many adventures in this magical society as they grew to become one of the youngest great mages of the eon.

Along the way, they discovered that magic is capricious, and only a handful of people in each generation have the inborn talent and wisdom needed to use it for even the most basic purposes. One wizard could cure many people with ease, but only scientific medicine has the promise of bringing it to all.

Only when they had mastered healing magic did the now much older and wiser student reveal their powers, demonstrate the nature of healing magic, and what's more, make their offer:

Anyone can benefit from this magical healing for free, eliminating all disease and injury in a moment, ensuring long-lasting health, and effectively making most people a decade younger. But if the patient ever takes action against free, universal healthcare for all, then the magic vanishes. This being magic, the spell can determine intent and allow for second-order effects... in other words, people won't get caught in pedantic traps unless it's narratively interesting.

The supervillain, in this case, is a cabal of health insurance executives and a number of bitter mages now seeking revenge for the overthrow of the old order.
PTTG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2018, 06:57 PM   #35
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
The plot is not what she does, it's trying to protect her from all the people who want to kill her because she can do it.
Or backstory in the campaign premise. The evil and corrupt government had her killed, which is motivation and potential character trigger for the PCs to be those revolutionary supers.

(At least that way, her abilities aren't competing with the PCs for the problem-solving spotlight.)
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2018, 07:22 PM   #36
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by PTTG View Post
Anyone can benefit from this magical healing for free, eliminating all disease and injury in a moment, ensuring long-lasting health, and effectively making most people a decade younger. But if the patient ever takes action against free, universal healthcare for all, then the magic vanishes. This being magic, the spell can determine intent and allow for second-order effects... in other words, people won't get caught in pedantic traps unless it's narratively interesting.
I'm going to say that I don't think that's very revolutionary. The setup you describe is the accepted model in most of the developed world and is widely advocated in the United States. Preventing people from opposing it is just censorship of dissenting views, which is a classic authoritarian measure and the sort of thing that repressive governments do all the time.

It seems kind of paradoxical, too. "I have powers that make established scientific medicine unnecessary, but I will use them to suppress any criticism of government funding of established scientific medicine." I suppose it might protect the super from being martyred at the hands of an army of redundant physicians and surgeons. . . .
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2018, 10:54 PM   #37
PTTG
 
PTTG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Well, it's one magical superdoctor, and that's not enough to care for the entire planet. Nor is he or she immortal.

As for the removal of the treatment if you change your mind, well, that's not censorship, just a very strong agreement. You don't HAVE to get free medical treatment from the super...

Oh, maybe I should have specified that the cure is done on a one-to-one basis. It's not global.
PTTG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2018, 04:43 AM   #38
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
In the review I read, it says that in Tess an innocent girl is shunned for being a victim of date rape and her boyfriend is to cowardly to stick up for her. I don't think it is implied that that is supposed to be a GOOD thing.
No, it was absolutely not meant to be a good thing. Hardy was deliberately provocative about it; the book's subtitle was "A Pure Woman", for Pete's sake. Hardy knew that would stir up a ****storm, and meant it to.

Now, one can argue that Angel Clare was meant to be merely a weak character who learns better, whereas actually he's a pathetic little £$%^&* who the book lets off far too lightly, but that's where the danger of modern perspectives maybe comes in. I had much bigger problems with Dickens's Hard Times, which recognises the horrors of Victorian industrial towns, but runs in pants-wetting terror from any solution which might threaten the status quo, and sentimentalises everyone except the minor character who's trying to actually improve things.

However, the late Victorian double standard isn't something which a period superhero could fix easily (though seeing Wonder Woman punch Alec d'Urberville in the face would be unpleasantly satisfying), and inequalities and horrible safety standards in heavy industry are rather a broad problem to fix (though I gather that the earliest version of Superman worked at it, and I guess that these days, Lex Luthor may see himself as a superhero defending that particular status quo for the greater good against a villain with good publicity).

I've only seen the movie of Gone With the Wind, but my personal feeling there is that it doesn't set out to defend the obscenity of the initial status quo, but by sentimentalising southern society at quite such length and with quite such production values, it ends up validating really evil attitudes, and may have done some really serious damage in the real world. All quite ironic given that Mitchell was, I believe, quite liberal for her place and time. However, Rett Butler doesn't strike me as the Batman type; he enters the action as a cynical realist who points out that fighting to defend the status quo is a very stupid, impractical idea, and probably sticks that way. Now, having Ashley Wilkes turn out to be a slaver Zorro might work... And throwing an actual champion of the oppressed into that setting would be quite an out-of-context problem.
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2018, 05:17 AM   #39
Michael Cule
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I'm going to say that I don't think that's very revolutionary. The setup you describe is the accepted model in most of the developed world and is widely advocated in the United States. Preventing people from opposing it is just censorship of dissenting views, which is a classic authoritarian measure and the sort of thing that repressive governments do all the time.

It seems kind of paradoxical, too. "I have powers that make established scientific medicine unnecessary, but I will use them to suppress any criticism of government funding of established scientific medicine." I suppose it might protect the super from being martyred at the hands of an army of redundant physicians and surgeons. . . .
You know it really isn't censorship.

It's discrimination against people of opposing views. It's demanding a price for your services that some people may have problems paying (but that's traditional in deals for magical services).

But it's not censorship. The people with opposing views would say that no-one had a right to the services of a particular physician nor even to the government ensuring access to health care and to be consistent they would have to agree the specialist can set what price they please.
__________________
Michael Cule,
Genius for Hire,
Gaming Dinosaur Second Class
Michael Cule is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2018, 06:13 AM   #40
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Revolutionary Supers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Now, one can argue that Angel Clare was meant to be merely a weak character who learns better, whereas actually he's a pathetic little £$%^&* who the book lets off far too lightly, but that's where the danger of modern perspectives maybe comes in.
Thanks, Phil. I certainly felt he got off far too lightly; yes, he got an unpleasant shock, but having him say that Tess's having been the victim of a crime made her morally unworthy to be his wife was just revolting. It quite makes me understand the point of Jesus saying more against the Pharisees than against the sinners they looked down on.

Quote:
I've only seen the movie of Gone With the Wind, but my personal feeling there is that it doesn't set out to defend the obscenity of the initial status quo, but by sentimentalising southern society at quite such length and with quite such production values, it ends up validating really evil attitudes, and may have done some really serious damage in the real world. All quite ironic given that Mitchell was, I believe, quite liberal for her place and time. However, Rett Butler doesn't strike me as the Batman type; he enters the action as a cynical realist who points out that fighting to defend the status quo is a very stupid, impractical idea, and probably sticks that way. Now, having Ashley Wilkes turn out to be a slaver Zorro might work... And throwing an actual champion of the oppressed into that setting would be quite an out-of-context problem.
Rhett does end up as a member or supporter of the KKK. But I have to say he evokes less Batman than his precursor the Count of Monte Cristo.

In a lot of ways, GwtW is a condemnation of the sentimentalization of southern society, as the cause of the South's ruinous defeat and the hardships that follows. (I'm sure a lot of viewers managed not to take that point from it.) On the other hand, the last time I watched it, I thought the scene where Scarlett gives her dead father's pocket watch to her father's valet rather moving, even though it's showing us one moment of humanity is a really ugly system.

(Though the film had an interesting cultural impact in Hettie McDowell, who played "Mammy," being the first black actor to win an Academy Award. And there was an incident where Clark Gable threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere unless McDowell was allowed to attend it.)
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
supers

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:22 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.