From: jdugger@nextweek.Reed.Edu (Jay Dugger)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: champ: What if...
Date: 9 Sep 92 03:16:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Sep9.031650.26428
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

In article <1992Sep8.212237.10873@news.columbia.edu>  
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
> v076jy2p@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Cosmo Of The Cosmos) writes:
> >Question:
> >	How would the world react to finding out that it had real,
> >live superheroes?  Please try to keep your replies semi-serious,
> >as this will be a semi-serious campain with a touch of black humor.
> >However, if your idea is either way funny or way dark, feel free to
> >post anyways.  All sugestions are welcome.

	As was said before, a lot depends on the mechanics of origin.  I  
strongly suggest that you NOT:

a) Let the players be the first ones to manifest.

b) Play at a high power level.

I played over the summer in a game where both of these mistakes were made.
As a group, we effectively took over the world, and the game turned into  
social engineering.  (The fact that my character was a disembodied invi  
sible psi with long-term mind control helped this a lot. 8-) )

Letting the players be the first to manifest is not good.  It gives them  
unfair advantage over their opponents.  Namely, experience and a power  
base.  If you can beat some martial artist teleporter punk in combat,  
great.  If you can beat him in the courtroom, or crimp his style with  
legislation designed to make the consequences of his powers unpleasant,  
that's better.  However, if there are several groups appearing at the same  
time, the detrimental effects will be lessened.

Playing at a high power level with first-supers game isn't wise.  This can  
turn character egos into "Out of my way, petty mortal!  This is a job for  
(fanfare here) CAPTAIN SARCASTIC!!"  Playing powers with characters attach  
ed is not role-playing, it's a bizzare wargame.

The second problem with high power levels in a first-supers game is that  
the characters can rapidly become a law unto their own.  If you can bounce  
small-arms fire, that's one thing.  Surviving a 40 megaton ground burst is  
another.  Governments will recognize a threat to their power.  They'll  
either neutralize it, develop countermeasures, or co-opt it.  National su  
perteams are a logical consequence of the appearance of supers.

Public opinon is a mighty sword.  If the players have it on their side  
they've a lever with which to move the world.  If not, they're screwed un  
less they've enough power to tell society to blow.  This is another argu  
ment for low power levels.  PO is also a good GM rein on the players.   
Accidental deaths are _bad_ things.  You may have been the media sweet  
heart, with a million-dollar-per-annum income (can you say merchandising?)  
but God help you if someone videotapes you dodging out of you opponents  
blaster fire only to have little Sarah Jane, aged 6, die.

Another thing to worry about is vigilante justice.  Maybe the cops can't  
stop Bad Guy #9, but you can't be judge, jury, and executioner unless  
you're allowed.

A few more ideas:
	Religous fundamentalist supers
	Was Jesus a super?
	Crazed fans (they shot John Lennon)
	The Mafia
	The Army
	The Moral Majority
	Para- (-psychologists, -physicists) who just want a tissue sample
	Is being naked while invisible indecent exposure?
	Who's gonna clean up this mess? That's what I wanna know!

Good Luck.

Jay Dugger
jdugger@reed.edu