'Teenagers Gain Superpowers' Role Play Proposal

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!

I come to all of you bearing a simple role play proposal: we must have all heard the story of teenagers suddenly gaining superpowers by now. It has been done to death on comic books, television shows and movies. Some of them are good, some of them are bad.

My proposal involves a scenario similar to those: the year is 2015, and suddenly, certain teenagers are gaining superpowers. Not just any superpowers, but the power sets from comic book heroes and villains. And I intend to make it so there are no limitations- if you want your character to have Superman's powerset, I'll allow it, but I'm expecting some top notch role playing from you.

This role play would not be about just 'teenagers with powers', but more about them dealing with their newfound abilities, the side effects they may bring (imagine what happens if you suddenly can hear any conversation in a ten mile radius do your super hearing) and the fate of the world now that teenagers all over the world are gaining superpowers.

The tone I'm looking after with this role play is serious, but not too serious. I do want to deal with slightly realistic consequences of people suddenly gaining superpowers, as I think it can be quite fun to role play as someone who's suddenly a speedster and has to deal with the world slowing down considerably, with his body operating on a whole new level, etcetera. Of course, this doesn't mean that the role play would be super serious all the time. There would be moments of fun and joy- they are teenagers, of course!

I want to know what the users of this forum think of this idea, and if there would be enough interest in it to warrant an actual role play sign up thread.

Thank you for reading!

edited 19th Apr '15 1:04:13 PM by GrateEscape

i like it - you have gained my intrigue. I have a couple ideas for characters, I think, as well.

Let me know if you need any help with running or planning the rp, too.

Excellent! Our first member.

My plan for the moment is to get a player base of... shall we say, six to eight players. Small but steady. So right now, we need more players!

You can share your ideas for now, of course.

Interest.

Regarding the superpowers, can we only do the things the owner were shown using them for, or can we use the powers however we want if the powerset's structure would potentially allow it?

Example, please?

Ooh, interest. Can we use any form of media, like, say... The powers of an anime, book, movie, or video game character? Or is it just comics?

Interest, definite interest.

While I love the main focus being the character impact of the powers, will we at any point be delving into how and why they got powers?

To Daydre: thank you for the interest, but just comics, please.

To Lt. B Gob: yes, we will!

Interest.

awesome, any chance of getting a character sheet template soon?

I'm not really familiar with the complexities of comic book powers, so... Basically, say character gets the powers of Hero A, who's mainly known for burning things with pyrokinesis. Could the character lower or intensify the heat output, or would the flames always match the same output the Hero was known for?

If I could chime in with an example- say that someone get the Flash's powerset. Would they be able to only do things the Flash has done or could they come up with some more creative uses for their powers?

Is that what you're trying to say?

I'm in.

Do the powers need to be based off of an established character?

To Lt.B Gob: later today!

To Kkutwar: if what Stratofarius said is correct, then, yes of course! Who am I to limit the imagination of my players? If you can convince me your character could come up with a certain application of his/her powerset, show him/her developing it, testing it, training... then you can do anything!

To deadpool616: yes, only established characters.

Hmm... Since there's a Dresden Files comic book (several, in fact), can I play as a character from said comics?

So how would you do a badass normal like Batman? Or a gadget character like Bane and his Venom? Wake up and HOLY SHIT VENOM IN MY CLOSET?

To Tojin: no, since that is just a workaround to take a powerset from other forms of media. Sorry.

To Hazzy Haz: in my opinion, you have in your hands an unlimited pool of heroes and villains. I just said you could pick Superman. You could pick Scarlet Witch, whose powers have altered reality several times. What does Batman have to offer in comparison to them? In my head, the storytelling opportunities that come from characters whose gadgets are very common are little to none- and let's face it, although it is a rather stereotypical joke, Batman's powers do come down to 'plot armor' and 'lots of money'. All that you'll get from Batman is muscles, a higher intelligence, fighting expertise... very blasé, in my opinion.

Same goes for Bane, where the only unusual thing you'll be getting is a vial of drugs, and from that I can only come up with a plot line that revolves around making more of said drug to fuel one's addiction. Which has a lot of potential- coupled with Bane's genius, and maybe a bit of his cruel tendencies rubbing off on your character, you could have the birth of a criminal empire.

The way I see it, characters whose gadgets are a part of them, as in Iron Man or Green Lantern, are much more interesting. If one were to get Iron Man's powerset, they'd suddenly find themselves with a generator in their chest, an unbridled genius in their head and none of the materials or money to put those ideas on paper. Now that sounds like it has potential.

But I am not one to limit character choice- that would go against something I said in the opening post- so if you want to go with Batman or Bane, do go ahead, and if you think you've got a killer idea that can surprise me, I am ecstatic to hear it.

What limit is there on how powerful one can be?

edited 20th Apr '15 8:33:13 AM by deadpool616

To deadpool616: there are no true, set in stones limit. But I- and this goes for everyone- will only accept good sheets for extra-powerful characters. If you're trying to obtain Superman's powerset for your character and I feel that your sign up sheet is lacking, then I won't accept you. I am a very prickly Game Master... and to avoid the game devolving into an ultra-powerful 'dick waving contest', I'll have to exercise some control when it comes to accepted characters.

Yeah, Batman and Bane were just examples for the question of how you'd get a character whose power was their toy rather than innate flight or the like. So you're saying you'll just find that stuff in your closet, then?

To Hazzy Haz: not their closet, but something like that. Maybe in their homes, or a storage unit, who knows- let's wait and see.

I'm very interested.