(Another) World of Superhumans

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

A? Imagine what would have happened if Stan Lee or Jack Kirby had become a super in the 1950s? T).

That would be What If? 11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...%20Earth%2D616.

[transmetahuman]

My point was that the very fact that supers and physics-violating super powers exist implies that kids will dream "bigger" than they might here. When anything is possible, and the evidence is all around you, only the most absolute dullards will resist being inspired.

After commonplace genetic testing (or for children of two supers), when a child grows up knowing for a fact that they are destined to develop super powers and sees all the various ways they've manifested before...

Now, GURPS has some marvelous and perfectly "big dreams" type powers that can be bought for under 100 CP, so I'm not saying there'll necessarily be few Type 1s. That does bring up the issue of multiple powers, though. Why be content with Invisibility when you might become an Invisible Intangible Flying Exoteleporting Mind Reader? With Unaging, Regeneration, and Immunity to Disease? What about all the non-Western supers whose dreams are inspired more by mythological beings, or stories of chi-masters and ninja?

[AlexanderHowl]

Because people tend to have straightforward and simple dreams? After all, adolescents are not known for their focus, and they might dream of flight one day and mind control the next day. It would be those adolescents who are truly creative and imaginative, or who face life threatening challenges, who would likely manifest abilities greater than Class I.

Now, this does not mean that the people who specialize in auto, home ec, or shop would not manifest higher order abilities, as they can be quite creative and imaginative. While they might have only average intelligence for a super, they might have bigger than average dreams. You could easily imagine more technically inclined people who dreamed of having trusted assistants awaken to high valued Ally Group or high levels of Duplication. You could also imagine a kid working an an auto shop wishing that they could lift up an engine block with one hand (which would be ST 28/70, making them a Class III).

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Because people tend to have straightforward and simple dreams?

Not in my experience. Of course, my mileage may have varied.

There's a difference between

• Having a high-power fantasy
• Knowing how to explain that high power fantasy
• Being willing to share that high power fantasy.

You learn pretty quick not to share your real power fantasies. Why? They are often very revealing even when they're not sexual in nature. They're your personal power fantasy. It also seems like, if you're not revealing something embarrassing about yourself, then you're just... boring. Power fantasies tend to be interesting to yourself because it is you imagining you're doing this cool thing... that doesn't always translate well to others.

A bit of a weird factor is that the common question is not what "powers" you'd want, but what "power" (singular). Forcing people to choose is a trick to try and get them to reveal more about themselves. Even when discussing powers (plural), you might get a good discussion while not inebrieated among friends, or if you're lucky and the discussion hasn't been held (with the problems mentioned above) before with that group e.g. that very first time the kids in your group discussed it at lunch in middle school. ;)

By age 15, at least, if you're someone who was a 15-year-old during the 1990s (my personal experience), you've learned you need to come up with one power, not so obscure that it looks like you're "trying", but not so common that it is boring, not so useless you look pathetic, but not so overpowered it is boring. XP Heaven help you if you do start revealing full on power suites, doubly so if it somehow becomes competitive and you're debating among "friends" who has the "cooler" idea for being a superhero. Oh, and everyone quickly learns you do not reveal the part of the package that deals with sex. It is a very... sensitive... subject. >.>

Addendum: Also, remember that "simple" does not equal "weak". The generic "I'm super tough and strong!" tank could still be a Class IV, so long as they imagined surviving an atomic bomb and... say... jumping from the USA to the USSR and punching so hard it looked like an atomic explosion.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Maybe, but a lot of our ideas about the powers that we would want come from the comic books and speculative fiction. Since Diadem from the Stars was published in 1977, there would have been 27 years of supers in the setting before it was published, so it was influenced by 20+ years of tropes that developed differently than in OTL. With real life supers in existence, I am sure that Clayton's works would have changed even had she not developed abilities.

Well, E.E. "Doc" Smith's works pre-date the emergence of supers, in some cases by decades, as do the works of Burroughs, Howard, and all the other 30s pulp writers. Plenty of powers and stuff in those to inspire people. What's more, once supers appear, and those with really amazing abilities become well-known, there become lots of examples for young people to dream of emulating, aspiring to be like, or to dream of being even cooler than. This implies an upward trajectory of power levels, at least for a while.

Of course, so a number of super-heroes from comics do too, of varying power levels. Superman, Captain Marvel (the original version), Wonder Woman, Captain America...

[Prince Charon]

I have to wonder how many teens think something like 'I really want to be a powerful wizard/witch' hard enough to get versatile abilities in this setting, and whether they get something more like Sorcery (or some other Modular Abilities power), something more like Path/Book Magic (e.g. RPM), or some other system. What I've seen so far suggests Magic As Powers (or perhaps more accurately in this case, Powers That Look Like Magic), but I know AlexanderHowl is pretty fond of Ritual Path Magic.

Of course, what they can do, or do best, depends a lot on their conception of what a 'powerful wizard' does. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit well before the 1950s (published in 1937), and The Lord of the Rings trilogy was new then (1954 & '55), so some might go for subtle magic with lots of luck-related abilities and the ability to craft magic items. Others would be big fans of comic-book casters like Dr. Fate and have more obvious magic. Some of them would have a lot of summonable allies with magic-themed abilities.

[AlexanderHowl]

For the population dynamics to occur as previously stated, the majority of people have to have 'small' dreams in order to have 100- CP of abilities (Class Is). From what I remember of my adolescence during the early 90s, I spent most it trying (without much luck) to hook up with pretty girls, and I really doubt that I am unique. Of course, the dream of spaceflight was powerful before I turned 13, but I was dreaming of my female peers by the time that I was 14. If I had awakened at age 15, I likely would have been a Class I (Class II at the best), as going out with a girl seemed a lot more attainable than going into space.

[TGLS]

All this talk about adolescent dreams makes me recall this:

Originally Posted by John Kessel

Over the years I have told a number of friends that, if I had had access to a nuclear device when I was in seventh grade, there would be a huge crater in upstate New York centered on what used to be West Seneca Junior High School.

--

I don't know if having classes correspond directly to point values makes much sense (unless there's some kind of signature that can be read; it's not like they get to read people's sheets). Maybe something like:
Class I: Personal
Class II: Local
Class III: Regional
Class IV: Global
Class V: Beyond Global

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

For the population dynamics to occur as previously stated, the majority of people have to have 'small' dreams in order to have 100- CP of abilities (Class Is). From what I remember of my adolescence during the early 90s, I spent most it trying (without much luck) to hook up with pretty girls,

Based on that standard most of the powers would just be useful for rape.

[AlexanderHowl]

While I am sure that such a thing would occur, such adolescents would be sorted out fairly quickly and end up locked away until they learned to behave thenselves. There are actually a number of ways for an individual to attract their preferred gender. For example, a character with Allure 4 (Super, -10%) [18], Appearance (Transcendent; Super, -10%) [15], and Voice (Super, -10%) [9] would have a +4/+14 reaction bonus for 42 CP. I doubt that anyone would correlate a perfect appearance and sultry voice with sexual assault (it technically builds on the attractiveness of the Super Template, which is why it is not 45 CP).

Strangely enough, the above ability build will likely occur frequently enough that it would not be abnormal. Many people want to be beautiful and, with the manifestation of abilities, they could be beyond beautiful. I would say that some version of it would likely manifest in 5% of supers (if not more frequently). Variations would include a focus on Bard, Born Entertainer, Clown, and/or Musical Ability instead of Allure.

An adolescent who manifested the above ability build would likely be shipped out to a super's academy ASAP, to protect them from predators (and to limit the number of irate parents complaining about their children being seduced by the super adolescent). They would likely be trained to become negotiators and/or entertainers, as their passive abilities would be quite useful. In any case, I do not think that anyone would think that they were vicitimizing people, at least no more than any other beautiful person.