I’m not sure Event Zero counts as superheroes. It’s more a magic-busting SWAT team, to make it as simple as possible xD but it maybe brushes the genre slightly.
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This.
I mean, i have it in my game that the parent might not get powers themself (the kid does, though), yet I’d still 100% classify it as superhero/superpower story.
Because the player is still an observer in a society of superpowered beings.
I try my best to account for powers being part of everyday life in and around Cornucopia.
(show best later in the story when the kids talk about what dwells in the Gloom and the titular woods around Nightgrove Woods and the idea of ghosts and cryptids and stuff is waved off as nonsense… by someone with superpowers.
I would love that 
I guess if super power stories are over represented it’s just because there’s a market for it. Magic, space and battles/war are other common COG topics. (Pretty sure magic outnumbers superhero stories… so far at least.) I’m honestly surprised by the lack of dragon type stories TBH. It’s interesting that such a popular topic is so under represented (I know there’s WIPs, but there’s only 1 (2 if you extend the definition to include monster master) actually published dragon focused story on COG so they’re not really common. I’d love to know why that is.)
Edit: Just remembered there’s dragons in the lost pages, so that brings it up to a grand total of 2 games.
I love superhero games! It’s why I stuck around after thw great tournament. CCH just brought me into this IF world. There something about the world’s of heroes and how I can use those powers :). My WIP can be added to the list as well, since its going to be centered around heroes. Nyctophobia
I’d say yes… Definitely… But not really on CoG. Basically, media seems to go through phases of stuff that’s ridiculously over-represented, and right now, that phase is superheroes. There seems to be a new Marvel/DC universe film out every couple of months, not to mentions the tonnes of TV shows that’re getting impossible to keep up with. Superheroes are popular right now, so it only makes sense that they’d be popular on CoG/HG too… Sooner or later though, people will get bored with the superhero phase and move on to something else.
World building for ‘superpowers’ is generally a bit hand-wavey though.
Science and magic are both disciplines that can be learned as a skill and developed over generations. But superpowers just spontaneously appeared on the MC and in the human species because of plot?
Common explanations for superpowers.
Natural evolution. Biology would like to have a word.
Tech-based. Why haven’t hundreds of other people developed comparable tech and thousands of others manage to reverse engineer it?
Bioengineering. Why haven’t services like Metahuman.Inc sprang up all over the place?
Ancient lost skill. How did it become ‘lost’, if it was so useful?
Is an Alien. Where did all the other members of the species go?
Freak accident. Assuming that in-universe it actually works; surely we can replicate the situation and fine tune the variables to make ‘powers’ that are better than the original? Which then merges into the tech/bioengineering situation.
Thoughts?
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Oh, worldbuilding here has to go much further.
A decent explanation is important.
But more important (i’d say):
- How are powers viewed by the public?
- Are powers part of every day life and how open are people about their powers?
- What regulations are there, if any, and how are they applied if not enforced?
- Furthermore, what’s there in terms of medicine, etc.
- what measurements protect regular citizens and how well?
- how did powers change everyday life, from big stuff down to language?
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I guess the question I’m trying to ask is: if something that could be classified as a ‘superpower’ exists; why hasn’t it crossed over into the domain of “regular citizens”? Unlike something like a certain race or sexual orientation, this would be a trait that most people would actively want and be motivated to get. Maybe not everyone can get it, but there would likely to be a spectrum of degrees of ‘power’ that extends at least somewhat into the public. In which case you can’t really draw a clear line between ‘powered’ people and ‘regular’ people.
Like how not everyone owns their private jet and cruiser, but many own a motorboat, or car, or bike. And we don’t create a different set of laws just for the people that own jets and cruisers. Not formally, anyway.
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This is where the “what setbacks are there to powers” part comes in.
Like, if you get an extraordinary appereance, etc, how would that go.
Powers being very exhausting, howd that go.
Etc
Assuming the setback has been proven to be unfixable, that would cut down on the number of people wanting it, but not eliminate them.
Fast food is unhealthy, but we eat it anyway.
I think the analogy staggers a bit, but holds:
Of course there’d still be people who’d want them, leading to the questions:
- how easy is it to optain them regardless of risks
- if illegal, how far will people go
- how is getting powers artificially viewed in either case
- what about non-genetic powers (natural or artificially conceived)
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Because superhero stories have become the mythos of late capitalist society:
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It’d be great if we had a game that accounts for all that.
No offense to you, but I’d contest the above article’s premise. Superheroes have been around since long before neo-liberalism, a term used to refer to laissez-faire economics becoming more common again. Late Stage Capitalism is theoretical economics/politics, it has no real world backing or evidence to support it. Using it to refer to current events is viewing things with a predisposed bias. But politics wasn’t the topic of this thread, so your input is duly noted and appreciated
Big fan of Choice of Rebels btw
@sljzz Not a new concept, as Havenstone said, its the mythos of modern society, much like Hercules or Amon-Ra were the mythos of older societies
Regardless of forced political connections, one trait the article pointed out is valid: decision-making and taking action by a select few, with the masses neither responsible for nor capable of saving the world.
@LifeWithoutMind It’s not a new concept, but it might say something about the genre and why we like them.
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Yes hello hi, it’s what im trying runs away screaming
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None remotely taken. It’s an eminently contestable article.
It’s worth noting that it doesn’t claim to explain the origin of superhero stories, but their surge in popularity since the late 1990s. But you’re right that he doesn’t really explain why the boom came then, rather than in the '80s or late '00s. There are alternative theories that might fit the timing better…
“Late capitalism” is indeed the jargon of a particular theory, and not the only way of interpreting the socio-economic trends we observe…though I think stating that it has no supporting evidence is itself a sign of a particular predisposition.
And glad you liked Rebels!
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My take on the recent boom in superhero media is the acquisition of large comic book publishers by Disney, in combination with a level of uncertainty in society as to where exactly our future is headed, similar to the popularity of heroes such as Superman after the Great Depression and WW2 (the MCU started in 2008, coinciding with the 2007-2008 market crash). Like how some people turn to religion in times of trouble, others turned to super heroes and big budget Hollywood as a new pantheon to look towards for lessons of morality
And yeah I’ve got biases, we all do. Didn’t mean to make any particular commentary on what yours might be
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I like the New Pantheon theory.
I do think superheroes have been the flavor du jour for a while now (and forgive me for that cumbersome phrase). I mean one has to only look at how many superhero movies have come out past the year 2000. A franchise was lucky to get a good movie, and now I’m surprised people haven’t gotten tired of it.
So the popularity of superheroes in popular media (movies, television) can also lead to other games/media reflecting that. Of course, there is definite interest from the writer, but it also ties into something that is more likely to relate to a bigger audience than something that was niche (look at the zombie fad that was big for a while)
That said, I would also say some of the examples mentioned would probably fall under other genre considerations even with superhero elements. The Superlatives: Aetherfall actually reminded me of an old rpg called Space: 1889 which is described as a steampunk sci-fi; the inclusion of powers is just part and parcel of it.
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