Sources of powers

Ok, so we all know the classics, like meteors, magic, and atomic energy/ mad science, but I was wondering whether anybody is using things like bionics/ cyberware (or their magitek/ clockpunk/ dieselpunk/ etc. equivalents), genetic engineering, bioware (biological implants instead of artificial), nanotech, and other things?

I'm toying with a villain who gets his powers from genetic tinkering. I've also considered bringing back Dr. Moreau as a villain, and he was the best at that! But off the top of my head, I can't think of any other times I've been planning to use that. Honestly, I'm a big believer that what the character DOES with the powers is much more important than where they come from.

Well, one of my various half-started projects, tentatively titled ‘Goldenpunk’, is about a world where superheroes first start appearing half a century into the future instead of back in the 1930s. The zeitgeist then has cycled back into positivity and hope for the future, but the advanced technology (cybernetics, genetic engineering, bioware, cheap energy, and computer chips in everything) means criminals could be armed with nearly anything, so the government sanctions equally diverse heroes to help stop them. (The Gpunk version of Miss Fury would have cat genes, the Gpunk version of Cecilia Cerise would have real functioning wings grafted on, and so forth.)
…I also had an idea for an open source cyborg soldier hero, since I know we don’t have many (I know there’s Cyberknight and Omega Frost on the wiki) but I can’t think of a good name for him.
I think of nanites as being farther in the future than cybernetics and parahuman grafts, but I have used it for one character—a reworking of Omega Frost I call ‘the Ice Agent’. I’m assuming he was cryogenically frozen in the recent past, thawed in the distant future using nanites that repaired the cellular damage to his body from the freezing, and then his powers derive from the nanites, who maintain his body and power themselves by absorbing heat from his surroundings.

I absolutely love the Shadowrun world, and I could imagine some form of superheroes going on it that world; more like the gritty, street-level heroes, like Marvel's New York heroes. Iron Fist could be an adept, Luke Cage's toughness could be represented by sub-dermal armour, bone-strengthening, muscle replacements, etc. Daredevil could have improved balance and reflexes and cybernetic sense organs. Wolverine could have nanites repairing him.

I'm not saying reinvent these heroes as I've said, just an example of how certain hero types could be placed in a cyberpunk setting. One of the things I'm doing with my stuff is massively world-building first, and so my universe stretches back from ancient mythology to space exploration, based on the idea that the Reed Richards/ Tony Stark/ Lex Luthor geniuses actually cause mankind's technology to develop faster than the real world.

@CptWhizz, I haven't read any Shadowrun, never heard of it actually, but I've been knocking around using nanites, gene therapy, sources like that to produce enhanced abilities/powers in my chars. I've even tossed around the idea of another Wold Newton event, or similar cause, where a select few are changed and pass the genes down their family line that 'activate' when other elements are brought into the story.

@GB, when you wrote ' Honestly, I'm a big believer that what the character DOES with the powers is much more important than where they come from.'

Strangely enough, I'm the opposite lol, I really like to figure out what does give them their powers/abilities, then work on how the characters react and cope with the thought of having them. Do they give in to their desires, and grab money, power, etc., or do they rise above it and try to help their fellow man?

There was a character in a sentai called Jetman, a HS student who wasn't going to help the others unless she made some money for it, and a character in another sentai (Akibaranger) that was a sentai member in order to increase her media exposure (like Booster Gold), who comes around to be a hero (like Booster).

SO, IMHO, characters could be fun to create and follow either way, however I do think the 'anti-hero' term gets used a lot too, because I consider the flawed character to be the more normal, or 'realistic'. Even Logan has matured from his early days as a fringe character to rockstar status, and the movies only solidified that idea. I always thought he worked better away from the team until needed, keeping him mysterious (to a point), now the mystery is gone.

@CW, slightly OT: With your idea of the geniuses of the world/futurists developing tech faster then military or civilian means, what do you think of the ancient astronaut idea that gets a few new converts each year something unexplainable happens, that if it's not readily explained - aliensdidit!

SuperHeroFan wrote:

Do they give in to their desires, and grab money, power, etc., or do they rise above it and try to help their fellow man?

Actually, SHF, that's what I was talking about. To use the obvious example, my favorite superhero (prior to his bastardization in The New 52) has always been Superman. Yeah, the powers are cool, but it's his "Boy Scout" attitude (which so many people sneer at) that really speaks to me; the idea he does everything he can to make the world a better place for others. Basically the "super" part doesn't appeal to me as much as the "man" part.

SuperHeroFan wrote:

@CW, slightly OT: With your idea of the geniuses of the world/futurists developing tech faster then military or civilian means, what do you think of the ancient astronaut idea that gets a few new converts each year something unexplainable happens, that if it's not readily explained - aliensdidit!

I have always LOVED stories and theories of ancient astronauts (can't say for sure I'm a true believer, but I find them interesting). Of course, some of those folks do get carried away. I keep waiting for one of them to say, "An engine that can run without gasoline? The Toyota Prius is proof positive that we've been visited by aliens..."

SuperHeroFan wrote:

@CptWhizz, I haven't read any Shadowrun, never heard of it actually, but I've been knocking around using nanites, gene therapy, sources like that to produce enhanced abilities/powers in my chars. I've even tossed around the idea of another Wold Newton event, or similar cause, where a select few are changed and pass the genes down their family line that 'activate' when other elements are brought into the story.

I love it. As an RPG, it has lots of sourcebooks dedicated to the game world, some with no gaming information whatsoever, and they're great to read to immerse yourself in the 'reality' that they've created. Everything from international trade and politics, to gangs fighting over turf of a few blocks. Plus, as well as the physical plane, there's the astral plane and the matrix (from before the films).

Also, a dragon becomes president of the US

http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/game-resources/shadowrun-timeline/


I do agree that the characters and their personal journeys are the most important thing, but I do love world-building

Cpt. Whizz,

As you said '..... I do love world-building.' I've been kicking story ideas around for a while, collecting a note here and there, trying to extrapolate tech, culture and so on. I don't know if there's a term for it, but I like the details to come first, then I work the story around the ideas.

I have always liked the idea of alternate histories, and I had an idea for a new timeline from the point(s) in which it changed, and I went to a alternate history site, and saw an idea I had for a backstory! I guess I'm not the only person to think of these things.

For ex., what if Japan was an ally in WW2, or Toyko was bombed earlier in the war (because the science and tech was possible pre-1945) rather than Nagasaki and Hiroshima?
What if the US, UK and Japan all began their space programs with the defectors of Project Paperclip, where would our tech be currently?

Then I read about some different books about AH where whole cities/towns disappear and reappear in other times/places.
Or something like what if there was an Earth like planet on the farside of the sun with an orbit around the sun comparable to Earth?

Happy post-Holidays everyone,

Anyone here?

The game Dystopian Wars is set in an alternate history:

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/products/dystopian-world/dystopian-wars

Also, apparently Winston Churchill wrote a short story on an Alternate History, I think it was based on a different outcome of the American Civil War.