[Supers] A More Scientific Golden Age

[Prince Charon]

Pulp-7, 1938

Current Affairs
As Mystery Men & Women and other strange phenomenal grow more and more common, the League of Nations attempts to coordinate a defence against the Second Martian Invasion, predicted to land in late October, 1938. This has delayed the German Third Reich's plans to gain more living space at the expense of their neighbors (though not their plans against certain minorities among their own people).

Divergence Point
Unknown, likely far in the past but with relatively high historical inertia until recently.

Major Civilizations
Western (multipolar); Orthodox (empire with rivals); Islamic (multipolar); Chinese (empire); Japanese (unitary); Indic (empire).

Great Powers
United States of America (representative democracy with oligarchic tendencies, CR3 for whites, CR4 for non-whites in the North, CR5 for non-whites in the South); United Kingdom (representative democracy with oligarchic tendencies, CR3); French Third Republic (representative democracy, CR3); Nazi Germany (dictatorship, CR6); Soviet Union (dictatorship, CR6); Japan (oligarchic dictatorship, CR5); Italy (dictatorship, CR5).

Worldline Data
TL: late TL6^ with experimental TL(6+1)^; Mana level: Mostly none
Quantum: 6; Infinity Class: Z3; Centrum Zone: Red

Notes
It is the year 1938 on this largely no mana (but otherwise fairly fantastic) Earth, a somewhat Wold Newtonish worldline, at least thematically: While some characters and groups that are fictional on Homeline exist here, others that are frequently seen in Wold Newton-like worldlines do not; some have no counterpart at all, others are replaced by beings or groups with similar abilities and usually-similar morals and ethics, but different origins, motivations, and names. For example, Holmes and Watson existed and Doc Savage lives, but while there is no Superman on this Earth outside of the comics (which depending on how late in the year it is, may not have been published yet), there is a flying, psychokinetic hero called the Artchetype, who claims to be from a lost city, not an alien planet. There's no Flash or Whizzer, but there's a speedster martial artist called the Human Bullet, and the chemist Professor Gibberne did exist. The nearest equivalent to the Ultra-Humanite or Lex Luthor is the Hyperintellect, a mad scientist with a deep hatred of the Archetype. The Bat-Man is at best a character being planned, though there are a few existing pulp heroes that serve as inspirations for him, primarily the Bat and the Shadow, each of whom worked with the Whisperer before he basically retired. Militarily and politically, the most important recent event was a series of flashes observed on Mars in late 1937, indicating a Second Martian Invasion which should reach Earth in October, 1938.

This Earth has both 'aliens' (referring to life that evolved or was engineered 'out there' before coming here, most of them sapient), and 'cryptids' (meaning beings that evolved or were engineered on Earth, most of them not-so-sapient, and a few groups that clearly do think; these include living things, spirits & undead, and even some strange robots). Some aliens and altered Earth life from the 1895 Martain Invasion (War of the Worlds) survive in hiding or in laboratories (the templates from GURPS Horror pp158-161 may be useful, here, though any Martian that survives on Earth by this point is either a mutant with a functional immune system, or is being kept in a sterile environment). This worldline experienced a gradual increase in strangeness during the 19th century, with a jump in power levels since 1929; they have also seen an increase in alien visitors, since the Zarkov Expedition thwarted Emperor Ming I of Mongo, called 'the Merciless,' in 1933 (shortly after Infinity discovered this worldline), and in appearances of cryptids since Dracula's visit to London in the early 1890s. People on average are less skeptical of the extraordinary than many on other worldlines in this era, though the Mystery Men and Mystery Women are still often believed (by those who haven't encountered them, or seen significant evidence of them) to be fictional or greatly exaggerated. Sure, people living in Chicago for long enough are no-longer likely to mistake the Archetype for a bird or a plane, but until he appeared in decent-quality newsreels, few outside of the city believed that a man could fly (under his own power).

Airships are significantly more common than on Homeline of this era, to the point that they are predicted to become directly competitive with sea-going vessels 'soon' (though predictions differ on how soon). Already, companies such as White Star Lines (not to be confused with White Star Trading) have begun diversifying into luxury airship travel. Rockets are also more common, with suborbital express-mail delivery having been started by Dr. Goddard in 1924, while the first communication satellite was launched by the British Interplanetary Society in 1930 (more details below). Walking machines based on Martian tech have become quite common in environments where wheels are less effective, mostly by the military and by explorers. They were first used militarily in breaking trench warfare in 1915-16, as trenches could either be walked over, or if they were too wide, the machine could step in and climb out again. Most human-built walkers have even numbers of legs; some have arms & hands, while few have the complex grasping tentacles favored by the Martians. Computer technology is a complicated field, including mechanical, fluidic, and electrical & electronic systems; due to Gadgeteering and the study of Martian technology, one should not assume that a given computer's Complexity will match a normal TL5, 6, or 7 machine of the same weight. Martian heat rays (MASERs) have been studied and duplicated by Earth's scientists, though production designs are highly power intensive; few are useful unless mounted on a vehicle equipped with an atomic matter pile or Superscience ultracapacitors.

Satellites designed to last longer than it would take their batteries to run out are generally powered by mercury boilers, though the first demonstration model in 1930 was made of cheaper (and less toxic) materials, and burned up on re-entry after only a few hours. Cavorite is often mistakenly mentioned by news services - no real equivalent to it exists, though there are a variety of Superscience materials and devices (some very expensive) which make air and space travel easier and safer. Space stations have existed since 1933, with the crews often being employed to maintain and repair satellites. Moon landings have been planned for the early 1940s by the Great Powers (the NACA, BIS, and SS-Raumabschnitt are each aiming for a manned landing before the end of 1940, the Soviet Rocket Forces and French Ministry of Space were expecting landings in either 1941 or '42, and Japan and Italy are planning to arrive 'no later than 1943'); with the approaching Martians, there is some debate as to whether preparations should be delayed, or should be accelerated and (in the cases of civilian missions) adapted for military purposes.

(I originally started working on this as a place for some characters that I've been working on to exist in, but it seems like a world that could be fun to game in. I suggest aiming more for a Pulp setting than a Supers setting, as the really high-level supers are rare. Typical Mystery Men/Women are in the 200-300 point range, or only a little higher; very small numbers of beings in the 500+ point range do exist, and some are being statted, but I suggest that they should usually be NPCs.)


Thoughts?

[Prince Charon]

Available Power Sources:

• Biological: Less common among humans than it is among aliens and cryptids. Of the humans that do have them, some inherit them (including some decendants of those exposed to the Wold Newton meteor while it was still active), others are born with powers that don't run in the family (mutants), and still others gain them from accidents or experiments (see also Superscience, below).
• Chi: Also written as Ki or Qi, or called Prana, Orgone, the Odic force, Vril, Élan vital, or a number of other names. The use of it is sometimes called things like 'the Esoteric Science of the Mysterious Orient' in Western countries of this era. Rather more common in Asia than in Europe, Africa, or the Americas, though traditional and modern practitioners can be found on every continent (including hidden parts of Antarctica, and lost submarine cities), even if they don't directly refer to it. Chi practices originating outside of Asia are somewhat less inclined to associate it with the martial arts, though even there, many do (and in all cases it is associated with physical health, agility, and/or fitness in some manner). Sometimes overlaps with various Psionic Powers. Active use is very rare among animals and other non-sapient beings, though all living things have Chi.
• Psionic: Not common. Can be found as a single Power, or as individual Psionic Power Talents; Astral Projection should be treated as both a Psionic and a Spirit power (see below). Sometimes overlaps with Chi. Members of the Wold Newton Families are more likely to be natural psis than average humans are. Many active psis have some form of Autohypnosis or Meditation. Active use is uncommon among animals and other non-sapient beings.
• Pulp: A common source of powers for 'mundane' supers. Some of them are also part of the Wold Newton Families, though certainly not all. Very rare among animals and other non-sapient beings.
• Savant: An uncommon source of power. Most Savants have some form of Autohypnosis or Meditation. Sometimes overlaps with Chi or various Psionic Powers. Very rare among animals and other non-sapient beings.
• Spirit: Somewhat common, as spirits and beliefs in them are everywhere. Most spiritual powers are affected by various types of Aspected Sanctity (e.g. War spirits being more powerful on famous battlefields, Forest spirits being weakened or useless in a desert, et cetra; unaspected Sanctity does not appear to exist in this setting), though to what degree should be discussed with the GM. A place may have more than one type of Sanctity (e.g. a peaceful chapel in a forest, or a fire-damaged house on riverbend where several murders took place), and Aspects may vary by time, weather, or other such factors. 'Demons' in this setting are in nearly all cases evil spirits (the rest generally being aliens, cryptids, or hoaxes; also, some evil spirits are not demons), and thus will need to be concerned about the Aspects of the location's Sanctity; powers granted by demons and very inhuman spirits will often have the 'Corrupting, -20%' limitation (the effects depend on what sort of spirit it is), though powers granted by less hostile or less inhuman spirits generally will not. 'Faeries' in this setting are mostly spirits that have a variable understanding about how humans work, though some beings that are called faeries are aliens or cryptids, or eccentric humans or ghosts of humans.
• Superscience: This rather common source comprises nearly all technological powers, and is often related to or a cause of other power sources, particularly Biological; some mad scientists believe that it is the original source of all powers, and they may be right. A few technological powers are Psi-Tech, and thus can fall under Psionics, as well. Note that while Superscience is a power source, it is not a power modifier. The Secondary power sources below serve that role.

Pulp and Savant powers comprise most abilities of 'Super Normal' characters. The latter comes from GURPS Supers p34 (in the Power Modifiers text box), while the former might be something that I came up with, or something that I saw elsewhere and forgot. The Pulp (previously 'Cinematic') power modifier is +0%, and covers all the implausible abilities that allegedly normal-but-well-trained humans in fiction are shown to be capable of - nothing too exotic, just things that are significant exaggerations of what normal people can do: IT: Damage Reduction is reasonable at lower levels, as is Damage Resistance up to maybe 10; Regeneration (Slow) is the limit of HP Regeneration for Pulp powers (and should be rare; it's more appropriate for Savant or more exotic powers), though Regeneration (Fast) is acceptable for FP Regeneration. Luck-related advantages and Recovery mostly make more sense under Pulp than they do under Savant, though Enhanced Defences work well for both, as do Striking ST and possibly Elastic Skin; Regrowth doesn't fit either very well. IT: DR as a Pulp advantage is best justified as luck-related, IMHO: you were lucky that you didn't get as badly injured as you should have been. Note that mundane advantages don't generally need the modifier, though specific forms of them might, especially at higher levels (Will Eisner's The Spirit probably has both Hard to Kill (Pulp, +0%) and Hard to Subdue (Pulp, +0%) at 10, for example - he may also have a Superscience Unkillable advantage of some sort, or have had a single Superscience-granted Extra Life, but his main thing is that He. Will. Not. Stop.). Some Mystery Men/Women who are seen as 'Super Normal' types do have more exotic powers, but use them rather subtly.

As implied, most of these power sources do interact with each other in various ways and to various degrees: The mental discipline of a Savant is quite useful in developing or using Chi and Psionic abilities. The Astral Plane and the Plane of the Spirits are functionally the same thing, so spirits are affected by astral barriers and vice versa, but are often not impeded by other forms of Meta-Psi (e.g. Anti-Psi abilities), and do not suffer the -3 penalty that psis do when working across the natural barrier between the Outer Plane and the physical world; the Thresholds of homes and some other buildings (see Pyramid Vol 3 #58, pp4-10) do count as astral barriers, though. The Gadgeteer advantage that is the key to creating Superscience is often a Biological, Psionic, or Savant ability, while Superscience can induce Biological or Psionic abilities (or in a few cases other types), or create devices that interfere with the latter. Chi abilities are not affected directly by Meta-Psi, but do interact directly with Psionic abilities in general, and can interact with Spirit abilities, though neither Psionics nor Chi are affected by Sanctity the way Spirit abilities can be.

[Prince Charon]

Secondary and Unavailable Power Sources:

Secondary powers are special cases of the available powers above, and Unavailable is self-explanatory. Still, enough of them could arguably fit into either category that I've lumped them together. If you decide to use a Secondary power modifier that can fall under more than one of the above sources (as opposed to using the Secondary to describe a theme and just using one of the PMs above), remember to note which it is on your character sheet. Secondary powers that are described as special cases of Superscience are consistently power modifiers.

• Chemical: A special case of Superscience; fairly common. Also called Biochemical, Pharmaceutical, Alchemical, or Herbal.
• Cosmic: Does not appear to exist. (You can add Cosmic enhancements to other powers, but Cosmic as a power source seems to not apply to this setting.)
• Divine: This worldline has no active deities, but does have powerful spirits that have been worshiped as or taken the form of traditional divine beings (so have powerful ancient aliens, and a very few modern humans or aliens who gained or have enough power for it to go their heads). Such spirits can (but very few do) grant powers similar to Divine Favor, generally with additional limitations (see for example 'Totem Spirits as Patrons' in this article), and the power modifier switched to 'Spirit, -10%.' More often, they grant a few less versatile abilities, with specifics depending on the spirit, and the recipients believing that their powers are divine. Some such powers may cause spiritual distortion, but others will not.
• Electronic: A special case of Superscience, often accompanied by the Electrical disadvantage; rare, but more common among robots than other derivatives of Superscience.
• Elemental: These abilities (which also include powers like Death, Illusion, Order, et cetra) mostly fall under Spirit, though some abilities may be Chi or Psionic instead; often written as a specific Element, e.g. 'Fire Elemental, -10%' or 'Chaos Elemental, -10%,' and frequently has the trappings of magic (see below). Uncommon.
• Magical: This is a largely No Mana worldline (and thus 'Magic' or 'Magical' should never be used as power modifiers), but things that appear to be magic from the outside do exist. For example, it is quite difficult for mundane observers to distinguish between a Superscience Gadgeteer who is an adventuring stage magician, a Chi Adept who is a part-time stage magician, and an adventuring magic-user with 'stage magic'-themed powers. There are enough relatively common 'magic' emulations that I'm listing them separately. Less common than the main power source of any specific 'magic' imitation.
• Mechanical: A special case of Superscience; rare, most often found among automatons of the Victorian era or older (most of which also have powers from other sources helping them to function or think - mostly Psionic, Spirit, or even Chi), like Boilerplate.
• Moral: Does not exist. Absolute morality is not part of this setting. Some spirits will act like Moral power sources, representing the morals of a specific society or faith (which should be noted on the character sheet), but this should still just be written as 'Spirit, -10%' (and may also have 'Corrupting, -20%,' even if Spirits of 'Good' cause a different sort of spiritual distortion than Spirits of 'Evil'); rare.
• Mutant: A special case of Biological (individuals born with genetic abnormalities that neither parent possessed genes for, and were not intentionally created); cause of some Psionic abilities (though they should still have a psi-related limitation, rather than Mutant); rare.
• Nanotech: A special case of Superscience (almost always alien in this era); very rare.
• Nature: This is mostly a special case of Spirit or Chi; some Nature spirits are alien enough to humanity that powers gained from them may make the user's mind (or even body) less human-like over time; uncommon.
• Physiological: A special case of Biological worth +0% (abilities granted by anatomical changes that normally cannot be affected by Biological Neutralize abilities); uncommon. Sometimes called Mutated Biology or Passive Biological.
• Sex: If you want to run that sort of game in basically this setting, the Sex power would most likely be a special case of either Biological, Chi, Pulp, or Savant, or possibly Spirit; how common or rare it is depends on the kind of game you're running, more so than the others on this list.
• Super: Does not exist as a separate Power; most abilities that would be listed as Super should instead fall under Biological, Psionic, or Superscience.

Common 'magic' emulations:

• Spells from GURPS Magic and such, in the form of Cinematic Skills; these skills would have a Chi Talent, if any, substituting for Magery levels, and would generally have few prerequisites (or none at all) beyond Trained by a Master, Weapon Master, or the equivalent. Depending on the GM, these 'spells' might be powered by Energy Reserve (Chi), instead of FP; alternatively, energy cost might be replaced by Margin of Success. They are often not based on IQ, but as this is just 'how you were trained' and 'how these skills work,' there's no need for perks to adjust the skill's Attribute. (Chi)
• Path/Book Psi Powers, generally as Energy Accumulating styles. (Psionic)
• Spirit-based forms of Path/Book Magic or Symbol Drawing - in both cases, replace the Magery Talent with Spirit Control Talent (or something similar), and Magery 0 with some variant of Channeling, Medium, or Spirit Empathy, or with a spirit as a Patron, Ally, or possibly Contact, or several spirit Allies or Contacts. (Spirit)
• Spirit-based Modular Abilities limited to Summonable Allies (similar to the Modular Allies in 'Spirit Magic' as a psi ability, but based on 'Spirit, -10%,' rather than 'Astral Progection, -10%') or Contacts. (Spirit)
• Spells from GURPS Magic and such as Spirit-Assisted Magic. This has the highest risk of spiritual distortion of any 'magic' imitation. (Spirit)
• Magic-themed Gadgets (e.g an Invisibility Field Generator in the shape of a cloak, or a Lightning Manipulator in the shape of a wood-veneer staff), and/or Gadgeteer with odd limitations (e.g. 'One Skill Only: Pharmacy (Herbal),' or 'Focused: Stage Magic'). (Superscience)
• Sets of Alternative Abilities with a 'magic' theme (including non-magical variants of Sorcery) or related limitations (e.g. Nuisance Effects like 'Must speak and gesture' or 'Must display runes,' or a required skill roll in something like Occultism or Symbol Drawing). (Can fit nearly any power source, depending on how you design the abilities - though Pulp would be rather odd, and Biological only slightly less so.)

Thoughts?

[ravenfish]

Thoughts:

With a 1938 setting, the first obvious question is of course what the Nazis are up to. Are they looking for the Holy Grail and Ark of the Covenant, or are they too busy building flying saucers?

People are going into space. How are they getting there? Accelerated rocket development? Superscience antigravity or reactionless thrusters? Really big cannons?

The insistence on the phrasing "largely No Mana worldline" raises the question of what's going on in the bits that aren't. Do you have plans for occasional actual sorcerers or at least a mysterious cult or two in magical regions, or are you just keeping options open?

When you say "relatively high historical inertia until recently", how "recently" is recently? If Wells's Martians invaded in 1895, things have certainly been very weird for at least that long- or were they hushed up somehow?

Why is Sex as a power source something that needs to be explicitly called out as not part of the default setup? I must be reading the wrong GURPS books...

[Phantasm]

Which book is the Sex power modifier in anyway?

Do you split between Biological and Passive Biological? (The latter is generally used on passive stuff like DR and IT:DR, as it ditches the Costs FP requirement.)

What about a Chemical, Alchemical, or Pharmaceutical power modifier, such as using weekly treatments (injection or ingestion) with pharmacological antidotes? (See: Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde.) Or would that, too, fall under Superscience?

In GURPS Supers, two Technological power modifiers - Nanotech and Electronic - have different costs than the standard -10%. (Nanotech is -15%, Electronic is -30%.) Will Superscience adjust its own cost accordingly depending on how it works?

And what about a "Mutant/Mutated Biology, -0%" power modifier for physical mutations (such as wings, feet adapted to be hands, extra-flexible tails and spines, etc.) that cannot be neutralized or interfered with but whose use may be subject to power talents?



(posted from fone)

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

With a 1938 setting, the first obvious question is of course what the Nazis are up to. Are they looking for the Holy Grail and Ark of the Covenant, or are they too busy building flying saucers?

All of the above, they will still be looking for 'Living Space' and global supremacy, as well as advantage over opposed nations and alien invaders.

If Ming lives are they seeking an Axis alliance with him whilst arming themselves to destroy him.

Originally Posted by ravenfish

People are going into space. How are they getting there? Accelerated rocket development? Superscience antigravity or reactionless thrusters? Really big cannons?

Superscience antigravity Rocketships for trade with Mongo, and preparing defences against the next alien attacks.

Earth has been attacked twice in forty years by two alien forces using mass driver or space weaponry.

Professor Zharkov may be leading the initiative for defense if Ming is defeated. As the Skorpi may be on the way, perhaps they will discover their degenerate lost colony on Mars or the vestiges of their ancient foes.

Originally Posted by ravenfish

When you say "relatively high historical inertia until recently", how "recently" is recently? If Wells's Martians invaded in 1895, things have certainly been very weird for at least that long- or were they hushed up somehow?

Sounds like history has stayed relatively on course since 1895 with localised events (such as the Martians only invading South East England, expedition to Mongo), now starting to truly diverge as further attacks are underway, the Wold Newton effect becomes global and mystery men/woman's activies start to affect events.

True divergence may have been centuries ago if Chi or Odic powers have been around for a while, alternatively late 1790s with the Wold Newton meteorite strikes. Perhaps Mongo's transit into the Sol System caused the bombardment, if a number of smaller WN meteors broke up over the atmosphere it would explain the gradual emergence of Supers.

Of course Tunguska could have been a big WN Meteorite or a martian cylinder exploding on impact or something else.

The known point of divergence being 1895 with the first invasion and Martian technology being disseminated into human technology, the destruction of London would have been difficult to completely cover up

Full Divergence may be 39 when WWII dosen't start or it does but its a Planetary War with the Martians or Skorpi.

[LoneWolf23k]

So, what's the deal with Mongo in this version? Is it still a Rogue Planet, and if so, where is it located and how does it survive when not in a solar system?

[arcanus]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

So, what's the deal with Mongo in this version? Is it still a Rogue Planet, and if so, where is it located and how does it survive when not in a solar system?

Well if we follow the original it’s wandered into the Sol system, perhaps settling into a Saturnian or Jovian orbit.

As a rogue planet supporting an Earth like atmosphere, possibly with its wildly divergent physics it has a miniature star orbiting it as a moon making it self sufficient.

Of course if combined with the 80s movie it’s connected to Earth by a wormhole or the planet itself moves via a huge wormhole missing all those troublesome celestial bodies.

[Prince Charon]

I really want to give a more detailed reply, but I'm tired and in pain right now. I'm currently thinking that Mongo attacked via an artificial wormhole, as Flash et al defeating the initial attack makes more sense to me that way (with the Wormhole Machine being destroyed, trapping the Zarkov expedition on Mongo).

[Prince Charon]

A little less tired and in much less pain. If I missed an important question below (not only from the people being quoted, I just thought answering these would also answer the others), let me know, please:

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Thoughts:

With a 1938 setting, the first obvious question is of course what the Nazis are up to. Are they looking for the Holy Grail and Ark of the Covenant, or are they too busy building flying saucers?

They're more interested in rockets than flying saucers (which are more expensive and harder to build), but they did go after the Ark of the Covenant two years ago, and have people assigned to the search for the Holy Grail this year.

Originally Posted by ravenfish

People are going into space. How are they getting there? Accelerated rocket development? Superscience antigravity or reactionless thrusters? Really big cannons?

Mostly advanced and superscience rockets. As mentioned above, superscience flying saucers and such exist, but they cost a lot, require dealing with often mentally unstable scientists, and have not been mass-produced yet.

Originally Posted by ravenfish

The insistence on the phrasing "largely No Mana worldline" raises the question of what's going on in the bits that aren't. Do you have plans for occasional actual sorcerers or at least a mysterious cult or two in magical regions, or are you just keeping options open?

Mostly keeping options open.

Originally Posted by ravenfish

When you say "relatively high historical inertia until recently", how "recently" is recently? If Wells's Martians invaded in 1895, things have certainly been very weird for at least that long- or were they hushed up somehow?

Basically, until the invasion, the weirdness was mainly on the level of a Secret History sort of thing, even if certain masked adventurers like the Scarlet Pimpernel and Spring-Heeled Jack did become somewhat well-known (the latter being a succession of people using the name, with various personalities and motivations). After the invasion, the historical inertia manifested mainly as the big historical events being pretty similar (WWI started in nearly the same way, but they were already reverse-engineering walkers at the time, and so tanks didn't really get started, and the war on the Western Front became mobile sooner), and major historical figures being in similar places (Hitler is still Hitler, he just has more effective wunderwaffen at his disposal).

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Why is Sex as a power source something that needs to be explicitly called out as not part of the default setup? I must be reading the wrong GURPS books...

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Which book is the Sex power modifier in anyway?

I vaguely think that there is a book with that power modifier, but I'm not sure which one, and may have been thinking of someone else's fanworks.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Do you split between Biological and Passive Biological? (The latter is generally used on passive stuff like DR and IT:DR, as it ditches the Costs FP requirement.)

Passive Biological sounds like a special case of Biological with a slightly different requirement.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

What about a Chemical, Alchemical, or Pharmaceutical power modifier, such as using weekly treatments (injection or ingestion) with pharmacological antidotes? (See: Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde.) Or would that, too, fall under Superscience?

Falls under Superscience.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

In GURPS Supers, two Technological power modifiers - Nanotech and Electronic - have different costs than the standard -10%. (Nanotech is -15%, Electronic is -30%.) Will Superscience adjust its own cost accordingly depending on how it works?

Hadn't remembered that. Need to think about it.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

And what about a "Mutant/Mutated Biology, -0%" power modifier for physical mutations (such as wings, feet adapted to be hands, extra-flexible tails and spines, etc.) that cannot be neutralized or interfered with but whose use may be subject to power talents?

Like Passive Biological, it would be a special case, but yeah, probably a +0% modifier.