I've been hit with a random idea for a superhero setting

>>51715930
>By the time of maybe the fourth or fifth generation, you got individuals who even begin manifesting more than one power, so you start having super strong, super fast flying bricks or deadly mentalist able to control entire crowds or mind break someone with a mere thought. And what about the generation after that, what happens then? That's when you start going into the more cosmic-level characters.

>The limits of what is considered 'possible' just keep getting pushed back and society is increasingly alien thanks to the fact this setting utterly ignore the rule that super genius are useless and their inventions having no application beyond their own gadgets.

>By that point in time, the world is increasingly ruled not by nation or corporations so much as families or lineage of super powered individuals with decades-long family feuds and diverging goals. So basically you can totally have that family who are basically the Superman who act like benevolent 'gods' loved by the people and on the other hand you got this aristocratic lineage which basically produce this not!Doctor Doom with goals of world domination.

>Inspired by things such as the Metabarons, I could see a campaign which is generational saga. There is the superhero thing, sure, but it's mixed with familly saga, with feuds and vengeance and the drama which come with it.

>>51715930
>I could see a campaign which is generational saga

You're going to end up with brane-straddling hyperheroes who use entire universes as projectiles when they fight each other.

>>51715988
That sound completely absurd. And badass.

Nothing, guys?

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>>51715930
Got the name for your game, OP: Power Creep.
Generational increasing powers is an interesting idea.
Fear your children.

>The world is changed by the appearance of the super humans, many of whom end up assuming increasing amount of politic and cultural power.
Good start

>This isn't like the X-Men with the oppressed
People still treat scary freaks like scary freaks, until they're mundane and boring to them.

>superpowered soldiers, athletes and politicians would have a lot of clout pretty quick
>humans not being able to do a damn thing in the long run.
Humans are pretty quick to crush and kill that which they fear.
Don't underestimate them.
I recall some nice shady things done by humans in the Justice League Unlimited series.
All it really takes is a few powered people to serve under them on principle.

If you want powerful families of powered people, keep it an increasing bloodline thing, with each generation gaining the powers of previous generations of both parental lines, like in Sky High.
If you want massive amounts of powered individuals, make it an increasing environmental effect, a la cosmic rays.
Maybe both.

>society is increasingly alien thanks to the fact this setting utterly ignore the rule that super genius are useless and their inventions having no application beyond their own gadgets.
Is that a rule?
Are you just saying that societal advances based on the cumulative work of super geniuses would be applied sensibly?
Awesome.

>I could see a campaign which is generational saga. There is the superhero thing, sure, but it's mixed with familly saga, with feuds and vengeance and the drama which come with it.
This could be done well, especially if the players help shape the world, each of the early sessions as a different generation, with the GM advancing the changes in the world.
There was a neat What If comic where Captain America was revived much later and Doctor Doom and the Red Skull had divided the world in war.

>>51718341
>Are you just saying that societal advances based on the cumulative work of super geniuses would be applied sensibly?
Assuming what they develop isn't some mad super science operable only by their bloated, demented intellect then yes. But the more sensible shit which can be replicated by human engineering well...why wouldn't it be made accessible to everyone in time just like every scientific advance?

>This could be done well, especially if the players help shape the world, each of the early sessions as a different generation, with the GM advancing the changes in the world.
There was a neat What If comic where Captain America was revived much later and Doctor Doom and the Red Skull had divided the world in war.
Yes, sort of something like that I think.

>>51718414
>..why wouldn't it be made accessible to everyone in time just like every scientific advance?
>>51718414
>why wouldn't it be made accessible to everyone in time just like every scientific advance?
Yeah, settings that establish the development of game-changing technology for a storyline, only to ignore it forever afterwards, is one of my pet peeves.

>>51718523
I understand WHY they do it in ever-ongoing comics: to make it still seem like it's SOMEHOW still 'our world but with superheroes'.

Which is something I'd love to throw out the window for this game concept. Not the first one to do it, in fact I know it's been done countless times before but still...

On my current idea of what the 'power levels' would be like, perhaps it is best to explain how I see the 'First Generation' supers:

These people aren't born super but rather changed by whatever the hell cause super powers to exist in the setting. Their abilities are generally more rigidly defined and quantifiable, with a few options at how I'd go around statting them:
-Their powers can be used in 'burst' which temporarily grant them superhuman abilities, such as temporarily gaining the strength of, say, five men.
-Alternatively, their powers can be a bit more passive and always on but at a weaker overall state than those who use it in burst. Keep in mind this level would be cap at, say, peak human or very low superhuman so you could see a guy able to lift a truck (but maybe not juggle it, obviously) or being able to have weak weapons bounce off their hardened skin. Super genius at this level are still within the human range but can be extremely skilled or gifted, either innately or by having 'super learning' or something. No super speed at this level either, but guys able to beat world record at sprinting.
-The start to 'exotic' powers like shooting fire or reading mind are there but they manifest as seemingly weak abilities like increasing one's body heat or innate ability to, say, detect lies.
-I'd say at this level, the supers aren't world changers just yet. That said, those amongst them who are really skilled and badass are on the level of those action heroes who do impossible deeds or maybe like kung fu movie protags who can explode bricks with their punches or jump on swords.

>>51718702
Then we get to the second generation, which can be born anywhere from mere years after the event which give superpowers to a decade. It depend on their parents, really.

Immediately there is a change in the paradigm. Children of super powered individuals manifest powers, either as children or teenager (super puberty isn't necessarily always true or accurate, some are just born super). Either they are strong because they are born that way or because something is making powers stronger over time. Depend where I'd go setting-wise. To me, this is where the super breeding would start to emerge when they notice that the children of two super manifest not only increased powers but also, sometimes, merged powers. And sometimes completely different powers because the weird way power clash.

Second gen probably don't have the whole temporary boost angle, which would possibly be an in-setting indicator of how flawed and incomplete their parents were, most of them being adults when they got their abilities. I'd say physically and mentally they are at the low superhuman level still, yet still able to pull off feats their parents couldn't. In game term, whatever the system, they probably would have more than just high stats or skills or whatever. At their level we are talking proper superpowers albeit weak ones. These guys would be what we call high-end of the 'street level' of superhero power rankings.

>>51718341
>near the top
Thanks Cap

What is that, a What If?

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>>51718829
>What is that, a What If?
Yep #68

>>51718782
>>51718702
Yeah, you need clearly defined tiers of power.
Really have to get the system decided before you develop how each generation flows.

>>51715930
Does not sound fun to play nor read.
But it does sound fun to watch in illustrations to see how fuck the battles between childrens will be.

Set your cares alight
Worries for another night
Let the children fight
Here's to Power Creep

Train your children right
Beatings for another night
When the children fight
Here's to Power Creep