01-16-2015, 03:24 PM | #31 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
As I understand it the Cosmic Energy does not bring with it the entire cartoonish physics of the comic books. Superpowered punches will kill people — crush their heads or sides or rip right through them — including supers whose powerset happens not to include superscience toughness. Superstrong characters attempting to lift big things well within their strength will instead tear through them or tear chunks off them, drive their own feet into the ground, or overbalance and fall — outside of the funny pages strength doesn't negate the need to keep centre of mass above area of support.
Some of the rather horrid early mistakes will result from people trying to apply naive Aristotelean physics and ideas they got from comics and special-effects movies to a much grittier setting.
__________________
Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 01-16-2015 at 04:39 PM. |
01-16-2015, 03:25 PM | #32 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: North Florida
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
0_o
'MURICA. Quote:
__________________
christ0pher You reach out to push the orc off the ledge. [Dice roll. Critical Failure!] But instead, lightly caress his back. The orc is uncomfortable. |
|
01-16-2015, 03:33 PM | #33 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
From experience with how the country deals with other problems, my guess is an initial response of not much, until someone with superpowers does something epically stupid, resulting in an overreaction which then gradually gets pared back to something more sensible.
|
01-16-2015, 03:37 PM | #34 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: North Florida
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
Oh YES. I look forward to the shocked faces and dismay this will initially cause. I plan on playing this very gritty.
__________________
christ0pher You reach out to push the orc off the ledge. [Dice roll. Critical Failure!] But instead, lightly caress his back. The orc is uncomfortable. |
01-16-2015, 03:50 PM | #35 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: North Florida
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
Quote:
Overreaction in this case might equal death-camps, hunter-killer drones or nuking populated areas to eliminate high powered/high priority targets...
__________________
christ0pher You reach out to push the orc off the ledge. [Dice roll. Critical Failure!] But instead, lightly caress his back. The orc is uncomfortable. |
|
01-16-2015, 04:28 PM | #36 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
No; the reaction to 'people, when they first gain powers, are prone to have dangerous accidents' would be trying to find a way of predicting and containing people who are about to gain powers; it's not really relevant to people who already have powers.
No, the extreme end of overreaction would be containment camps, and the more likely end of overreaction is just some really annoying bureaucracy. The stuff you're talking about is insane supervillain stuff, not in the range of what would really fly in first-world countries. You might get mandatory service in countries with weaker rights traditions. |
01-16-2015, 04:36 PM | #37 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
Quote:
Most supers are likely to be benign or perhaps beneficial (commercially even if not altruistically). But there are over thirty thousand of them, which means three hundred odd in the top 1% for extremist violence. The combination of violent extremism and random superpowers will be very hard to predict or to guard sgainst. Such militant supers as do exist will find themselves in a target-rich environment. If they employ guerilla/specops approaches of keeping disguised or hidden and applying surprise and violence of action against comparatively soft targets they will do a great deal of damage before they are identified and destroyed. And you have to figure that some will attempt decapitation strikes against enemy leadership. Large-scales conflicts in which significant populations find themselves bereaved, deprived, and endangered will produce militant supers as certainly as they produce militias and insurgencies. A very high proportion of Syrian, Iraqi, Libyan, North Korean, Caucasian, Ukrainian, and possibly Sri Lankan, Afghan, and Pakistani supers will likely be militant. Super powers appearing at random will tend to appear much more copiously among the oppressed masses than among the oppressive elites. Unless the elites can quiickly identify and either recruit or destroy them supers will tend to counterbalance oppressive regimes' preponderance of armed force. But don't suppose that that means a World Spring for Democracy: snti-democratic ideas of theocratic, statist, and authoritarian character are more widely popular than the principles of democracy are understood. Outside of places where actual wars are going on, you have to have some concern for crackpot views and nutty fringes. Any political, racist, bigoted, or conspiracy-theorist section of opinion might get a super. Any such body of belief with 200,000 adherents will probably get at least one. So think of anyone who has been demonised in widespread propaganda lately. Muslims. Obama. Putin. Kim. Assad. The Koch brothers. The governors of the Fed and board of the World Bank. Bankers. Senior executives of oil, pharmaceutical, and agricultural companies. Congresscritters. Abortinists. Vaccinators. The Queen of the UK and Duke of Edinburgh. There are a lot more likely targets than possible defenders. And huge numbers of people everywhere believe that these people are engaged in the most terrible conspiracies.
__________________
Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 01-16-2015 at 04:41 PM. |
|
01-16-2015, 04:50 PM | #38 | |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
Quote:
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
|
01-16-2015, 04:52 PM | #39 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
Doomsday cults and mass revivals would sweep the globe. Major religions will suffer schisms as they try to define the whys according to their world views and inevitably disagree.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
01-16-2015, 05:04 PM | #40 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
|
Re: Suddenly, Supers!
In the USA, somewhat more than four law enforcement officers and seven members of the armed forces (not counting national guards) will acquire superpowers. Also, at least ten prisoners.
__________________
Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
Tags |
brainstorming, custom setting, supers |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|