So... what's your position on Kewl Powers? Love em? Hate em? Love the games they're in but can't get rid of 'em? Love games that don't have 'em but you wish they did?

Also, note that my definition of kewl powers is a little broad. I would, for example, include millitary power as being fairly kewl. Same for political power, or even competence with a gun or explosives (you have no idea how KP explosives are, used correctly). So kewl powerz don't necessarily need to be "OMGRAYGUN" or "TEHMAGIC" or "KUNGFUFLURRYKEKEKEKEKEKEKKEE!"

Also, I'm partial to having kewl powers on the offensive, rather than the defensive, side of things. Blowing up buildings, pillaging towns, and stabbing people is generally pretty fun in RPGs, but if there's no risk what's the point?

k3w1 pw0rz suxxorz. Real men don't need 'em. They are for geeky kids who get picked last for the sports teams, and guys who have a big thumbprint on their forehead from their boss or wife.

I always liked "cool shticks", which encompasses both powers and habits. By definition, this would be different, a power is an ability while a habit is just a way to do things a certain way. But from a character's perceptive, the difference is often negligible. The sharpshooter has to have a certain skill to down every opponent with two shots, one in the groin and one in the brain...

It all boils down to neat visual effects. Stuff that defines the way a character acts. Whether this is done with some special mechanic, pure role-playing or just using a generic mechanic the right way doesn't matter much.

That said, I found that D&D's feat system will probably endure the ages. There are some non-D20 systems which already emulated this. Maybe I'm missing some game which did this alredy, but it seems that for the first time in ages a new role-playing mechanism was found (spare me, oh thematic dweebs).

Quote from: SosthenesMaybe I'm missing some game which did this alredy, but it seems that for the first time in ages a new role-playing mechanism was found (spare me, oh thematic dweebs).

Dude, you put out the Theory Beacon.  Duck and cover!  

Quote from: SosthenesI always liked "cool shticks", which encompasses both powers and habits. By definition, this would be different, a power is an ability while a habit is just a way to do things a certain way. But from a character's perceptive, the difference is often negligible. The sharpshooter has to have a certain skill to down every opponent with two shots, one in the groin and one in the brain...

0_o

Um...

Yes?

Win?

|<3\x/1?

Quote from: JimBobOzk3w1 pw0rz suxxorz. Real men don't need 'em. They are for geeky kids who get picked last for the sports teams, and guys who have a big thumbprint on their forehead from their boss or wife.

Pfft! I will pwn you in basketball, football, dodgeball, whatever.

You might have spent your school years losing, but I spent mine in a wilderness-based correctional facility. Carrying trees. Digging privies. I'm alot of things, but picked last in sports ain't one of 'em.

So you play some lame shmuck. I'll be over here wasting eight of you with a fireball.

Quote from: beejazz0_o

Um...

Yes?

Win?

|<3\x/1?

What's wrong with groin hits?
For quite some time, we read the GURPS hit location tables slightly wrong. The whole abdominal region including the groin was region '11', which happened quite often on 3d6... And I've recently read the "Preacher" comics, which have a certain way to give you flashbacks to your pubescent perceptions of cinematic violence...

Anyway, the main gist of the example was that even without explicit "powers", certain modus operandi of the players might be termed "kewl". So even giving up "kewl powers", you'd get a reasonable likenes in the game. If I remember correctly, the thread which spawned this one mentioned Rome as an example of a TV show without supernatural powers. Still, if impaling someone with a mace isn't "kewl", I don't know what...
(I could make a Champions character out of Titus Pullo, I could make a low-level fighter out of him. Mechanics don't matter that much.)

I equate "kewl powers" with cinematic events. Whether this is backed by some feat/advantage/power in the rule system is often not that important.

I tend to get bored by too high a power level. I vastly prefer Batman to Superman, Iron Man to Thor.

-clash

Kewl Powerz or dirt farmers doesn't really matter if the game is built to handle it properly. Most of the games I play in are higher powered, but that's because my group has a surplus of minmaxers. Whatever the power level, there's still always a challenge, so it's all good.

Echoing what Mr. McMurray said, I'll go along for the ride if "kewl powers" are involved if the game is designed properly to provide enough of a challenge to be interesting.  

And as long as that challenge is there, the "kewl powers" level can be pretty damn high.  For example, I could play Exalted as-is, as long as it wasn't a game of my demigod kung-fu master just beating some endless swaths of "mooks".  If it's a game where my demigod kung-fu master is competing with other equally powerful (or more powerful) demigod kung-fu masters, then it would have the potential to be interesting.

Lately, though, my taste is more towards the lower end, more mundane, end of the scale.  Where I to do an Exalted game, I'd be more inclined to tinker the damn thing to death, stripping out most of the more cosmic, uber-kewl elements and taking it down to the fairly gritty swords and sorcery setting a'la Glen Cook & Tanith Lee, that seems to have been the core of the setting in the beginning.

But, then, I'm not so inclined.  I'm inclined to shamelessly steal bits of color and atmosphere from some of the source books and use them in another, entirely different game.

A question, though:  When does something cross over to being "kewl powers"?  Is your standard D&D mage such?

Standard DnD mage? Hells yeah!

Evards Black Tentacles is pretty KP...

Quote from: flyingmiceI tend to get bored by too high a power level. I vastly prefer Batman to Superman, Iron Man to Thor.

-clash

I was with you right up until the the very last part. Thor (as done by Jack Kirby) is the perfect superhero.

Batman is pretty awesome. To me, he's the perfect example of well executed KP... omnipotence sans invulnerability, so to speak. He can do damn near anything he pleases, given the right gadget and some time to prepare... but if you shoot him he still bleeds.

When they're in genre like Exalted. Super cool.

When your playing a super super hero. Cool.

When you start out in a street level gritty campaign - but because of levels and feat trees you are one day able to go one on one with a dragon. (with the same PC to whom a house cat was once a legitimate threat.) Not cool

But then D&D is its own genre, so for those that like it, it is super cool.


.

Kewl Powers are fuckin' A numbah one, chief.  They come in lots of forms, though, and most games have them if you dig deep enough.

So saying I like them is kinda like saying I like dice.  Which I do.

Yeah.