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Superpower Settings (and making the most of them)

arrias99

arrias99

Wanderer
Location
Nevada
Hello there, SV; it's been a VERY long time since I've posted here. Since then, I've been writing a lot on places like Wattpad, Amino, and many others. I won't get into much details on what are my intentions, but I would appreciate if we all have an intellectual discussion about a world where a lot of people own Supernatural Abilities.

To put into concise terms, how would Superpowers affect the world in general? I mean, it can open up to the possibilities of independent villages, towns, cities, and even countries, but it would also leads to negative things such as violent gangs, terrorists groups, notorious criminal organizations, and malignant cults. Still, the idea (when executed properly) can expand to hundreds of different topics such as politics, religion, philosophy, science, military, and many others.

This thread will probably get ignored because I'm kind of a nobody here, but it doesn't mean I shouldn't try. So, if you want to engage or just ask me questions, just sound off and we can get this discussion rolling.
 
It Depends. That's really the best answer I have to such an open-ended question. It Depends on how common superpowers are, how powerful they tend to be, what kind of person they usually go to, where said persons live, what they believe in...

In any case, it is highly unlikely to result in the kind of status quo you see in comic books, because comic book settings are in perpetual stasis and actively disallow real change. I won't disagree that it could lead to some very interesting storytelling, if you're able to avoid the morass that is modern superhero comic book cliches.
 
Well, if we're going set parameters; let's say that half of the world's population possess powers and the other half is mundane. What I would speculate is that there would be a strong case of discrimination and divide against ordinary and extraordinary people.

In my opinion, when handled correctly, this could make a pretty compelling narrative.
 
arrias99 said:
Well, if we're going set parameters; let's say that half of the world's population possess powers and the other half is mundane. What I would speculate is that there would be a strong case of discrimination and divide against ordinary and extraordinary people.

In my opinion, when handled correctly, this could make a pretty compelling narrative.
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What powers are there?

What can they do?

How and when do they manifest?
 
Leila Hann said:
What powers are there?

What can they do?

How and when do they manifest?
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Awesome and strong powers like Fire Manipulation, Super-Strength, Invisibility and, Super-Speed, but they have a tendency to be rare in the human population depending on your genes. Also, it's important to have secondary powers as a proper foundation, as a way to not break consistency, like being resistant to g-force.

A person would gain their powers around the ages of 5-8 years old at the most. Those who manifest it are given lecture and training sessions to make sure they properly control it and don't hurt them selves and others. The feeling of manifesting would be like a warm energy gradually flowing through you and everything in your vision becomes a different kind clear; one that is pretty hard to describe.

Any further questions?
 
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Geez, everyone just lost interest at the drop of hat.

Is there something fundamentally wrong with talking about Superpowers?
 
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Leila Hann said:
Frustratingly vague and generic premise, related to a subject that's already been discussed to death.
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Huh, I guess context matters more than anything. What if were to tell that I've created a power system to spice things up and add some complexity and philosophy to the idea Supernatural Powers?

If you don't want to know about it, I understand.
 
Conjured Blade said:
How close is the Ubiquitous Magic setting of Sorcerously Advanced to your intent, @arrias99? You get a fairly large suite of things you can do with no need for tools or magical traditions(AKA Mage the Ascension Paradigms), just sheer force of will. It's in open Alpha so here is a PDF link.

http://suffadv.wikidot.com/local--files/forum:new-thread/Sorcerously Advanced Alpha.pdf
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Um... thank you? The terminology reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons, somewhat.

Leila Hann said:
I'd ask why the hell it wasn't in the op.
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I don't what to say anymore. This thread is pretty much worthless, someone should just delete this. I'm really sorry for wasting your time.

Flame me, I deserve it.
 
arrias99 said:
Um... thank you? The terminology reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons, somewhat.
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Ok. Clarifying on my line of thought a bit, there's a lot of easily available magic with potentially wide ranging social implications there. The subject/setting interests me and I thought some of the magic from there might be a way to narrow things down for the discussion you wanted to have. For example, basically everyone who isn't a child can fly at 30mph on sheer force of will.
 
arrias99 said:
Awesome and strong powers like Fire Manipulation, Super-Strength, Invisibility and, Super-Speed, but they have a tendency to be rare in the human population depending on your genes. Also, it's important to have secondary powers as a proper foundation, as a way to not break consistency, like being resistant to g-force.

A person would gain their powers around the ages of 5-8 years old at the most. Those who manifest it are given lecture and training sessions to make sure they properly control it and don't hurt them selves and others. The feeling of manifesting would be like a warm energy gradually flowing through you and everything in your vision becomes a different kind clear; one that is pretty hard to describe.

Any further questions?
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What level of fire and speed and such?

Is it 'run as fast as a car, so some people don't need vehicles,' it is 'mach speeds, so someone is effectively untouchable to ordinary foes baring bad luck,' or is it 'Flash like god of speed, bullets hang in the air like raindrops'?

Can fire person make a torch, a flamethrower, or torch a city block with a gesture?

We could have anything from 'things are mostly the same but a lot of people have a useful talent, given them a leg up,' to 'there's a sizable gap between have powers and have nots,' to 'those with the best powers are flat unstoppable and who controls them controls the world.'


Settings that explore powers effect in different ratios include Rising Stars (by JMS of babylon 5, moderate sized group gains various powes of various strengths and types), My Hero Academia (80% of the pop has powers, but most are really minor, society has developed a system of licenses to restrict their usage), Uber by Kieron Gillen (the ability to manufacture specific superpowers by the hundreds is found. In world war 2. It gets dark. Power classes are 'tank class' for the most common and 'battleship class' for the rare most powerful examples).

There's more- including a couple 'what if *one person* has superpowers?', but 'what if superpowers were real?' is not a rare concept, and asking questions like this is why I have my 'what have superheroes done with X?' thread (see sig link).
 
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