Not that I'll get to use this idea any time soon

[james_davis_nicoll]

Because it looks like 4E D&D might be the next year's campaign but what would be a good quintessentially '80s name for a superhero?

The basic idea that I'm toying with is that the guy hit his PR peak around 1989 because as we know superhero rpg universes reflect the comicbooks of the time. In 1988 and 1989, wisecracking masks who enjoyed what they did but who didn't do anything unsavoury were in but by the early 1990s people wanted to hear about depressed superpowered thugs beating the crap out of other depressed superpowered thugs. Even though this guy was stilling doing what he did as competently as ever, nobody cared. Or cares. He's still sticking with his old schtick twenty years on despite the lack of acknowledgment. It's what he knows and anyway it's a lot more fun than the famous guys are having.

Comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of there being an anti-speedster around called Drag Queen, who manipulates friction (which is one of those power-sets where you wonder why they bother with the whole super-lifestyle, given how many commercial and entertainment applications there are for that ability).

I'm not too proud to steal Messner-Loebs' bit between Flash and the Pied Piper for the moment when after knowing Drag Queen for 20 years, the penny finally drops for Speed Metal.

Awesome

[(Anonymous)]

And the super thing? Maybe supering is sort of like show biz: some people have a predilection that will keep them in it, even when they have talents that could be better applied somewhere else.


Doug M.

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

James, we did this (in part) with the whole Teen Team adventure and the Sidekix TV show. Lemme see if I still have the notes...

Online even: http://www.geocities.com/jhmcmullen/sidekix/sidekix_intro.html

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I was just posting about that!

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

This campaign is why one of my standard models for superhero teams is rock bands.

FASS and UpStage are why my other model is amateur theater (Was it Hawkman people thought was the JLA's tenor the last time we kicked this around).

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Also, you can steal from sources like Still Crazy, The Commitments, and Tempest Tost for campaign plot ideas.

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

I wonder if professional sports teams might be the third model? Even if they lose money, they bring prestige to the area, there might be large supporting employment (plot bunny...save that), there could be clearly-defined roles ("We gotta have an infiltrator! All the other groups have one! You have to have someone who can get into the base without smashing it!"), there could be farm teams (move from the Podunk Blasters to the Waukegan Justice Warriors to the Chicago League of Heroes).

Although movies take a lot of people, studios don't seem like a viable model. TV stations might be.... ("I started as a little 500-watt electrical blaster and look at me now!")

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

The Specials seems to have something like the minor/major league system, where the big name teams poach people from the lesser teams.

It's not clear who funds the Specials or the other teams, although merchandizing deals are important.