Just found this article and I love it. I always liked origin stories, and it amused me how they've changed over time. (Toxic waste is out of style, now it's all genetic engineering and nanites). In my superhero universe, the fall of Atlantis granted people powers, and the series is drawn more and more back to Atlantis and the catastrophe that sank it. Lots of different power sets that divide into four classes: strength, psi, arcane, or metamorph.
In a sense it seems like almost a historical accident that superheroes became a genre inn and off themselves considering they started as a crossover of different pulp genres.
True, superheroes are an unusually conventional genre, so history put in unusual influence, but there are other genres that rely heavily on their conventions. How a sonnet got 14 lines involves historical accidents.
This is a good article. I admit, one of the things I've loved about superhero stories since first finding them on a trip to the Quakertown Farmer's Market oh so many years ago is the fantasy kitchen sink aspect. Especially back in the Golden Age, when you could do anything in comics.
The bit about origins also reminds me of some Champions RPG PDFs I recently read that were all about how to do 'shared origins'. I.e., one single source for multiple characters. Be it a magical ritual that grants superpowers when it doesn't turn you into a monster. Or a machine owned by a supervillain that can grant superpowers -- and everyone on the planet wants to get their hands on it and him. Or even a delightfully Silver Age 'smart drug' that turns some users into the classic quirky evil geniuses who invent some piece of supertechnology, and then use it to rob banks. I love those goofy old theme villains.
Very true! But all those shared origins should result in a mix of powers. Assuming you don't end up with two or three, maybe four characters. Small sets can more easily overcome the uniform powers by hitting the other superhero tropes.
Oh, they do result in a mix of powers. The author included several sample characters with each PDF to both show how to build such characters and as an example of what sort of powers they could get. There are some commonalities in powers and weaknesses -- the Green Butterfly Ritual, if it works, will make you into a god (read: innate magical powers that don't need lengthy rituals), and it also grants every person so changed specialized defenses and a lengthened lifespan.
Just found this article and I love it. I always liked origin stories, and it amused me how they've changed over time. (Toxic waste is out of style, now it's all genetic engineering and nanites). In my superhero universe, the fall of Atlantis granted people powers, and the series is drawn more and more back to Atlantis and the catastrophe that sank it. Lots of different power sets that divide into four classes: strength, psi, arcane, or metamorph.
Thus giving it the diversity in the unity!
In a sense it seems like almost a historical accident that superheroes became a genre inn and off themselves considering they started as a crossover of different pulp genres.
Of what genre is that not true?
True, superheroes are an unusually conventional genre, so history put in unusual influence, but there are other genres that rely heavily on their conventions. How a sonnet got 14 lines involves historical accidents.
This is a good article. I admit, one of the things I've loved about superhero stories since first finding them on a trip to the Quakertown Farmer's Market oh so many years ago is the fantasy kitchen sink aspect. Especially back in the Golden Age, when you could do anything in comics.
The bit about origins also reminds me of some Champions RPG PDFs I recently read that were all about how to do 'shared origins'. I.e., one single source for multiple characters. Be it a magical ritual that grants superpowers when it doesn't turn you into a monster. Or a machine owned by a supervillain that can grant superpowers -- and everyone on the planet wants to get their hands on it and him. Or even a delightfully Silver Age 'smart drug' that turns some users into the classic quirky evil geniuses who invent some piece of supertechnology, and then use it to rob banks. I love those goofy old theme villains.
Very true! But all those shared origins should result in a mix of powers. Assuming you don't end up with two or three, maybe four characters. Small sets can more easily overcome the uniform powers by hitting the other superhero tropes.
Oh, they do result in a mix of powers. The author included several sample characters with each PDF to both show how to build such characters and as an example of what sort of powers they could get. There are some commonalities in powers and weaknesses -- the Green Butterfly Ritual, if it works, will make you into a god (read: innate magical powers that don't need lengthy rituals), and it also grants every person so changed specialized defenses and a lengthened lifespan.
Yes, that would work.
Of course, if you do the ritual incorrectly, you either die if you're lucky or get turned into a monster if you're not.
Of what origin is that not true? You get the super-science serum and react badly. (That's how the world prevents massive armies of supers.)
Fun!
Glad you like it!