Tropes
As examined in prior columns, individuals with unusual powers and abilities have always featured in myth, legend, and fiction. After the world wars, culture heroes and mystery men gave rise to Superheroes. Over time, tales of these outlandishly clad characters escalated in power to rival and surpass the ancient heroes and even gods and demons of old.
In response, a subgenere of related fiction emerged. Looking back to the stranger tales of Phillip K. Dick and Alfred Bester and merging them with the now well-established superheroic genre to tell tales of people with powers and abilities not really all that far beyond those of mortal men.
A group that wants to play a Low Power Supers campaign needs to understand the following tropes common to all subgenres.
No Capes! Ever!
Bucking the trend of distinctively clad heroes and villains, Low Power Supers tend to dress however they feel, buying off the same racks or visiting the same tailors we do. T-Shirts and blouses, Jeans and Khakis, suits and dresses make up the wardrobes of those who move undetected amongst the normal folk.
Uses:
Most of us here probably don't wear the same thing every day. (This is a Tabletop Role Playing Game message board. Best to leave that “most” and “probably” in there. We all know That One Guy). In a Low Power Supers world, there's no Heroic Culture, and extreme high or idiosyncratic fashion belongs to musicians, models, hipsters, and scene kids.
Pitfalls:
Much like in our own real lives, if you're going to go do something questionable on camera, you might want to arrange to wear nondescript clothing and perhaps a paintball or ski mask (but see I Can't See A Thing In This, below). Just because your character tends to wear various local band T-Shirts and Chinos is no reason to wear them when breaking into the lab that is responsible for them (see Something In The Water, below).
I Can't See A Thing In This
Anyone who has gone out trick or treating or to a costume party knows the plain truth about masks. They impair your vision to a significant degree without dedicated practice. Similarly, just because Brett Farve has blacking around his eyes does not suddenly make him unrecognizable. Modern real-world biometric face profiling technology is approaching the point where it can positively identify people even through most masking attempts, picking them instantly out of a crowd of thousands. If a Low Power Super is hiding her identity, she has to start with a hoodie and a full visor motorcycle helmet at the least. Imagine that not standing out in a crowded mall.
Uses:
No Low Power Super should ever stand in the middle of a brightly lit plaza confident that even those who have grown up with them, dated them, worked side by side with them and seen them naked would be unable to identify them because they can 't see their cheekbones. A Low Power Super has to be careful not to be caught on camera, to move quickly, and avoid being seen clearly as they go about their business.
Pitfalls:
At the same time, in our real world witnesses are notoriously unreliable, cameras are often offline or grainy to the point of uselessness, and places that should be chock full of people are suddenly empty for a few minutes at a time.
Low-Power Supers should not fixate on identity protection. This is not In Plain Sight: Role Playing in the Federal Witness Protection Program. They probably would have a whole separate deal for supers (See We Know Who You Are And Your Country Needs You, below.)
OK, I'll Be Barry And You Can Be The Tick
Continuing on the core elements of Superheroes that Low Power Supers actively avoid, Codenames are seldom used, and then as more of nickname. The Superstrong Guy is never The Brick, Mighty Man, or the like. At the most, people might refer to him as That Steroid Freak. Most people who ever speak to him just call him Jim.
Uses:
It can be amusing to have opponents or sarcastic sidekicks who are Comics-Aware compare and namedrop existing fictional superheroes to their powered friends. It is equally appropriate to have a character remind everyone they are not a similar comics property.
Pitfalls:
Although the characters tend to use their real names, it is seldom an excuse to threaten their identities. It is also completely appropriate for supermarket tabloid rags to assign a ridiculous codename to rumors of a superhuman freak.
Something In The Water
Low-Power Supers usually have a single source of power for any given continuity. No Ordinary Family had Trilsettum Coronis, the Alphas previews mention individuals who “stretch the capabilities of the human mind”, and Mutant X and Dark Angel had genetic experiments.
Uses:
Discovering the origin of the mysterious super powers given the characters can be a major focus of several sessions of the campaign, as can then confronting their creators (who are usually up to no good).
Pitfalls:
As with any genre, avoid Villain Fatigue. It is perfectly fine to focus on bank robbers, identity threats, nosy suspicious cops, romantic and family drama, terrorists, and natural disasters for a session or three.
Theirs Goes To Eleven
Despite the name, some of the “Low Power” supers are Justice League and Avengers material. The difference comes from the social and physical similarities of their world to our own. Even though a character may be as strong as The Thing or as fast as Quicksilver, no one is ever going to hold up a crumbling building with super-strength, because real physics don't work that way. Only one law of physics or set of real-world assumptions per character gets to be broken. The rest of the world works like it always did.
Uses:
Its dramatically satisfying to have comics-aware characters attempt to act like they are in fact in a comic book universe... and then have to deal with the real world consequences.
Additionally, keeping power levels feeling low can make for a dramatic moment when facing an opponent who is just a little more powerful or versatile, requiring the entire team to work together to beat them.
Pitfalls:
The characters are not actually in the real world, or the strongest could never move about with being as damaging as a rhino in an egg factory, and every super-Power fight would be as destructive as a full military skirmish with high power ordinance. Although they are Low Power, they are still Supers, not monsters. Let the physics take a back seat to the needs of the narrative until called for.
We Know Who You Are And Your Country Needs You
Inevitably, the Government in some form will figure out what's going on, if they are not already directly responsible. Whether through coercion, appeals to patriotism, or just simple legal fiat, the Low Powers Supers will do missions for the Feds.
Uses:
Once the intrigue of secret superfolk has worn a bit thin and personal plotlines have matured and resolved, the campaign can generally go one of two ways. Either Supers can become public knowledge (contrast White Wolf's Godlike with Wild Talents), or the Government can step in and start deploying the special talents of the characters. Either way, it moves the focus of the campaign, keeps it fresh, and shakes up the status quo.
Pitfalls:
Avoid power escalation and the temptation to bring in colourful costumes and codenames, unless the group wishes to move into a full-blown Superhero campaign. Additionally, be aware that a Government campaign need not be a military campaign. Low Power Supers have endless Intelligence and Espionage applications.
Sources:
That wraps up this installment of Tropes. Next time, things get hairy... or rather Harry>/I>, as we examine the Potters and Dresdens of Magical Realism.
We'll depart from our usual format a bit, since this narrow genre is relatively unexplored in the RPG world. Refer back to Tropes #1 (Superheroes) and #2 (Pulp) for some games that easily adapt to Low Power Supers play.
Your turn, RPGnet. If you know of any games that cover Low Power Supers as a genre by itself, point them out in the forum!
