Let's create a superhero setting!!!

It can be sure. But I don't think it is. If I saw book about it I think to myself 'oh this looks like a cool urban fantasy story', Not 'this looks like a cool superhero story'.

*shrugs*

edited 9th Jun '13 7:47:17 AM by joeyjojo

The avengers could be considered urban fantasy in the same way, the only significant difference is that these heroes are criminals too, and that the war is being fought in secret. Anyone's free to add superhero-ness to this if they want, so long as the figures stay vaguely similar to the original mythological versions.

edited 9th Jun '13 7:49:20 AM by VincentQuill

The setting as first set by the OP is a cyberpunk one, actually, with powers granted by a mysterious spaceship that crashed on Earth. That doesn't mean it cannot be rebooted (or a new one started separately) though.

Your setting is interesting, I like both Celtic Myth and the idea of supernaturals using comic book style identities to continue The Masquerade. My only problem is that the morality of ancient cultures often clashes with more modern ones, and I feel true heroes should go by the latter.

Hmmm... the ancient morality could be kind of mentioned a few times but largely ignored as a quirk of the older characters. So the main character (who was raised when the story is set) would have more modern sources of morality. Either way, by either morality, best way to deal with ancient evil= kill it. and of course the majority of the people wouldn't believe in the ancient evil and so aren't prepared to fight it, so that falls to this gang of residual mythological figures.

The setting is a good one. But is it a superhero story? Hell what is even a super hero story for that matter.

edited 9th Jun '13 7:53:45 AM by joeyjojo

You can make it more superhero-ish if you want, I don't mind. Maybe they act the same level of 'hero' as the Green Hornet (or whatever that one was called) i.e. people thought of as criminals ultimately fighting crime.

edited 9th Jun '13 8:09:42 AM by VincentQuill

Not with out radically altering it. Like I said though it's a good urban fantasy setting. I'm a sucker for Celtic Mythology.

well, it can be radically altered if you like, or you could consider it urban fantasy. As of now it's just an abandoned plot bunny. you could use it if you like. I have an awful lot of plot bunnies that I'd like to see done, but am too lazy/have too little time to get them done.

edited 9th Jun '13 8:17:52 AM by VincentQuill

By modern morality I mean "no killing" (among other things.) The only way killing is acceptable is if the target is not human (in the ways that count eg. it has no free will, for example an Always Chaotic Evil demon) and/or there is no other choice.

To me, a true hero is one who abides by this; otherwise he's some OTHER kind of hero, but not a full, idealized one, which is one of the traits of superheroes. (The other being that they MUST have superpowers; and no, Batman's not a SUPER hero in my book.) Costumes and secret identities are optional, though.

well, the majority in the gang would be antiheroes, but the MC would be a hero who simply is forced to hang around with some with a more twisted morality (i.e. the Morrigan would do an awful lot of killing, and the Blue-and-Orange Morality of The Fair Folk would allow them to act similarly) due to a lack of other kinds of heroes, but he would discourage most of their killings. This would be a bit of a Crapsack World when viewed from its underbelly. They do have powers (remember, some of them are 'gods') and a secret identity, but no costumes, except maybe some more discreet costumes than the usual (distinct but normal clothing, a mask of some sort (that actually hides most distinguishing facial features i.e. not green lantern's), an Unusual Weapon Of Choice)

edited 9th Jun '13 8:27:58 AM by VincentQuill

Given that superhero settings tend to be kitchen-sinky with both sci-fi and fantasy elements, and there's no particular reason the version posted last page couldn't coexist with the version discussed earlier on the in thread, except for the time frame (The version discussed earlier in the thread took place, IIRC, some time between the 2050's and 2070's).

Sorry about constantly saying I'm going to write things for this then failing to do so, I'm in that constant cycle of trying to get less-busy for a bit then either wasting it writing something else or getting distracted from this.

edited 10th Jun '13 4:11:41 PM by Archereon

well, the time scale could easily change, but I'm not sure a setting firmly grounded in celtic mythology could work with other superheroes. unless, every country's mythology is true in their own country, so taking a plane to the states would reveal the superhero 'mythological' figures to be real there too. except it wouldn't work if they were acknowledged as real in america.

Eh. I don't see why not. I mean Thor and the other Norse gods exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

edited 11th Jun '13 6:59:54 PM by joeyjojo

I'm playing with the throught what if superheroes always existed. What if these superheroes was threated as gods in the ancient times? What if the Nazis was hard-working on creating their new race? What if the government would hire superheroes for working at the police with their anti magic?

Speaking of the Nazis, I have a great character idea for a Nazi character. His name is Arduous Blitzkrieg who goes by the code name Commander Apocalypse. He was part of the Nazis' project to create a race of superhuman soldiers. He was given a drug called Superkräfte (it translates in English as superpowers) which not only makes him stronger, faster, smarter but adds thirty-seven years to his lifespan. Then he was selected to be a test subject in Project Tiefkühltruhen (Project Deep Freeze) so the Nazis could see if they could put someone successfully into cryosleep. He wakes up after seventy-five years at the same time the space object crashes into Earth. He decides to travel to America after he catches himself up on the events of the last seventy-five years. After being in America for awhile, he becomes a millionaire due to his business called Stärke Inc. Which he uses the money to buy pills called Endzeit (stop time) that will fight the affects of old age that is catching up to him. He makes a man named Diedrich Manheim (a former soldier) after meeting him at a local gun show, he makes him his sidekick after making him vice president of his company because he discovers that they have the same beliefs about America. Which he gives him the code name Major Menace. They decide to create their own personal army called the Sterben Army. They recruit a retired Canadian soldier named Buiron "Rondel" Alcott who is given the code name Captain Revolver.

edited 4th Sep '13 4:39:17 PM by KyleBrackman

Are we still working on this? If so we should call the setting Disruption of Earth.

I'm still around if there's interest.

If we're still working on this, I love it!

I have an Asian-American gangster who's basically flipped the "evil Asian gangster" idea into becoming a superhero after his fiance got carjacked and shot, and since the police barely helped catch the murderer, he went vigilante and shot the guy himself. He's the Tin Man and his gang is full of Badass Normals with a couple of magical people, and they use a Wizard of Oz theme because he feels like he lost his heart after his fiance died.

I might not use the specific "Tin Man" superhero alias since I'm already writing the script, but I could TOTALLY use the idea for a Perspective Flip. Like, "a group of Asian-American Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters get mistakenly put in jail by another superhero because of a misunderstanding, but the police release them immediately and explain that the gang actually helps them out by helping apprehend/kill the more dangerous criminals. The gang wonders if they got arrested because most of them are Asian."

My gangster's probably going to be the Batman of this story, since he's got so much PTSD and general depression issues.

edited 2nd Dec '15 8:30:07 PM by Sharysa

Kyle Brackman actually gave me an interesting character idea.

Well, people. What about german ubermensch from WW 2 supersoldier program (think Red Skull and stuff), who still lived till our day (by Kyle's method or any other). The twist? He's not a nazi villain; he's genuine patriot and fair soldier, who tries to serve his country and the world as much as he can, but nevertheless is constantly harassed and frowned upon by all around him, including his actual fellow compatriots.

How about that concept to play with?

edited 26th Dec '15 6:07:17 AM by sidestep

I think it's a good concept; after all, this is a fact, not every Nazi was a monster. It can be tricky to pull out, story-wise; you have to convince the characters (and the audience) that the hero was never evil.

(This reminds me of Kamikaze, a Japanese superhero, and his villainous grandson from the GURPS SUPERS book, Mixed Doubles; the original fought on the Axis side simply out of patriotism, but hid after the surrender of Japan. Later he told the truth to his grandson, hoping he would become his successor, but he stole his super-suit to become a criminal for hire. So, the original now hunts the new one, to restore his honor.)

Btw, Mixed Doubles is full of great ideas, if you can find a copy (it's ooold) buy it!

"I think it's a good concept; after all, this is a fact, not every Nazi was a monster."

More like "not every german soldier was a Nazi".

But that was the point, yes.

Do you think we should make it where every scientist in the world was curing all diseases and making advances in technology like teleporters, self-flying or self-driving cars, holograms, laser beams, virtual reality, and many other things?

The problem with that is, when the amazing becomes commonplace, Supers become less impressive. Its why even with companies like Stark and Lexcorp, the world doesn't really advance. (you could argue such tech is just so expensive, only governments and megacorporations can afford it.)

Ok. What are some things we can add to the setting without dulling it down by making everything too normal.

edited 13th Jun '17 6:17:07 PM by KyleBrackman

Okay, I have a superhero setting that spanned two centuries.

It began in the 2050's, a scientist named Mithra found a strange phenomena that she called the Lacetus Field. By tapping into that all-encompassing field, she turned herself into a superhuman being. She then created Artificial Humans, called Demons, to be her lackeys. Demons have perfectly free will and No Biological Sex. With her new powers, she proceeded to Take Over the World (OF COURSE).

As a response, a Japanese scientist created Transformation Trinkets that derived power from the Lacetus Field called Devices. Devices are activated when the user says "Henshin." Initially, these Devices have identical, generic designs, but after it registers the user's DNA, it transforms itself into various trinkets such as pens, gloves, etc. The process is irreversible. The uniforms and powers that Devices gave to users depended on their personalities, genes, and even names.

The UN assembled a multinational team to use such Devices to combat the Demons. The team has the codename Rangers. With the help of a defecting Demon named Hong Jian, the Rangers defeated the Demons and captured Mithra. After the war, Hong Jian was jailed for 50 years.

Fast forward to 2256, the Rangers has now reorganized itself into Ranger Corps, an international superhero army with a small navy and airforce behind it. On a local level, Devices have been distributed to several superheroes. The local superheroes are called Guardians.

A group of Demons attacked a Rangers Base and broke out Mithra, Hong Jian, who had been living in China for a while, was transfered to Sapporo, Japan to investigate. She gave her adopted daughter a Device so she can defend herself and one day her daughter demanded to be a Guardian too.