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Author Topic: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs  (Read 2587 times)

Thondor

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Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« on: April 24, 2021, 10:52:55 AM »
As a big fan of Invincible, I've been enjoying the Amazon Prime series.
Feel free to talk about the series in general in this thread. What do you think? Have you read any of the comics?

Episode 7 which dropped yesterday was great. A little heavy on the cliffhanger at the end, but loved the Immortal vs Omni-man part.

I recorded a video where I talk about Invincible and superhero power levels (mostly with Simple Superheroes as my context, but I do think it works on multiple levels.)



Do you agree with the 4 broad power levels - Vigilante, Empowered, Planetary and Cosmic? Is Invincible Planetary - or do you think he is Cosmic?

Scale of Action is different thing that is separate from Power level, this is more about plot and story then what a hero is capable of doing. So far the series has had mostly Regional stories, with the exception of the trip to Mars, and the visit with Allen the Alien.

Warder

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2021, 06:02:24 AM »
Ello Thondor.

In my view Invincible is Planetary but verging heavily on Cosmic without reaching it. Cosmic means he would be able to do feats that are stretching belief and while the show seems somewhat.. large scale, its not there yet imho. In my comparison, Invincible is in the same cathegory with Authority comics/tabletop by Warren Ellis(controversial man these days) not just because of the hyper violence/gore but also becuase its wide-screen. Both have moments of moral dilemmas just not considered by every day folks because of how big they are, and consequences. Bloody consequences.

I have read the comics and liked them, despite some misgivings. Ill finish the show but in the meantime i have other things on my plate, itll keep.

Ill watch your video when im back from work, laters.

Thondor

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2021, 03:33:42 PM »
Yes, I do think he is pushing the top end of what I normally drop into "Planetary tier."
The main thing is usually his speed, other things can be explained in game terms by pooling Talents together, spending Strainpoints (or another games equivalent) and coordinating with other supers.
Speed for traveling (especially) is often pretty broken for any serialized story though. Distances don't really matter do they? We want our hero to be in Africa, NA, and the arctic in the same episode/comic, so they're fast enough to do that.

Warder

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2021, 05:00:22 PM »
Okey, i watched the video and subscribed.

The super-speed has been described by his father in the series as ''pushing one self in the opposite of the desired direction'' if i remember it correctly. This makes me feel that viltrumites are capable of possibly reflecting gravity waves in their favor? Just speculation here, im not sure there is anything like that in the show. Anyway, travelling at the speed of plot has been a superhero stories mainstay since forever so as a GM i would just allow it.

Now for setting up a session in the Invincible verse i would be intersted, but the weird swerves of plot that do happen in the comic series(like the issues with Invincibles replacement who just.. killed his family.. that was weird) is something i would leave out of it. Now if it would be like meulating the tv series i would be for it. What could be the possible frameworks of such a session? Lets see:

Invincible War/The Other War, the players are Mark Graysons from alternate universes that have decided not to take part in the invasion. Plot twist, they are also evil just have diffrent goals.

Guardians of The Alternate Times, where the world is very different after Invincible has dissapeared after his fight with Angstrom Levy. The players are living in that world, they are what stands against its threats. And the world is not a good place. Dinosaurus has really ran unchecked and developed some horrible measures to create an utopia.

On the other side of the verse, a pair of viltrumites have taken opposite twin worlds as their charges. They try to stay out of each others way, sometimes they help each other, sometimes they fight. And the PCs are either the superhero members of those worlds or renegade viltrumites hiding amongst them. How will this situation develop?

After the events of the comics, the survivng Viltrumite violet hybrids have a choice to make. Some decide to stay on their planet, some are going to explore the universe. This seems like a good jumping point for a game. What lies beyond the event horizons?

Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2021, 08:27:39 PM »
I find the adaptation kinda misses the tone of tge original, as well as being lefty as fuck.

HappyDaze

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2021, 09:11:32 PM »
I find the adaptation kinda misses the tone of tge original, as well as being lefty as fuck.
What was the tone of the original?

Warder

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2021, 05:41:36 PM »
What if spiderman was supermans son but from injustice verse? I think. Also it was a coming of age in a superhero verse where thing turned out messy all the time. Thats my interpretation anyway:)

Thondor

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2021, 09:38:32 PM »
I find the adaptation kinda misses the tone of tge original, as well as being lefty as fuck.
What was the tone of the original?
I usually have trouble defining/talking about tone. But here's an attempt:  The comics are pretty brutal and there is major adherence to continuity. Most stories have a major impact on things, going forward and nothing "resets" to normal. Despite this it feels genuinely superheroic, and while their are twists along the way, espouses some good stuff about "why superhero."

As for the the animation being more left - the only thing I can think that Shrieking Banshee might be referring to is some "recasting" of supporting or minor characters. Shrinking Ray is changed to female for some reason (super minor character in the comics - but it's weird cause his first name is Ray), Amber was blonde in the comic,  Mark's best friend is openly gay in high school. Dude is gay in the comics but doesn't come out until like issue 60 or 80 or something, that feels somewhat more likely to 2020 versus 2003 when it was written.





Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2021, 10:23:21 PM »
At phone so this is brief:
The cast changes made me roll my eyes, but what the leftining was the dialogue. Needless to say there was no mention of sexism or 4th wave feminism in the original conic.

Tone wise the comic had more balanced levity. It was brutal at times but the adaptation relishes in gore.
All character changes where for the shallower and worse.

Omega

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Re: Invincible and Superhero Power Level in RPGs
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2021, 03:20:26 PM »
Take standard sub-standard Image writing and make it even more sub-standard.