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i've been plondering this idea for a little while (which may eventually turn into a champaign but for now its just a little thought)
imagine a world where everyone had superpowers, but most people having lame powers, and very few (like 1 in a million) having superman/ god like powers
lets say this has always been the case, since the start of time
how would the world be different?
what would be the biggest differences?
Everyone's a hero in their own way...
In their own not-that-heroic way...
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I would be a hero who could generate soap bubbles.
Large ones that he could roll, bounce, or float in; or huge waves of suds that could obscure vision or make large areas slippery and difficult to traverse. He could also shoot focused jets of bubbles at enemies with enough force to push them back or knock them down.
My power would be to touch any book and be able to understand and put it to use for three and a half minutes.
I can never remember if that's the world where I don't exist, or where I'm everyone. So confusing.
how would the world be different?
History and modern society would likely be unrecognizable to us. Even modest powers would be carefully practiced and exploited by their users. With a lifetime of practice and experience, even common individuals could radically change the course of history given the opportunity and just the right circumstances.
what would be the biggest differences?
The laws of physics and chemistry would likely be radically different than how we understand them to be if godlike powers such as flight, mega strength, energy blasting or time travel were possible (to name but a few possibilities). Consequently scientific and technological advancements would have likely progressed along a completely different course than it did in our own history. The secret of such things as radio waves, radiation and electricity may have been discovered and mechanically harnessed back in antiquity given that many people could, to various extents, repeatedly reproduce their effects for the benefit of contemporary scholars.
Add these things together and you end up with an utterly alien modern-day super-human civilization.
I have a knack for finding money on the ground. Coins, small bills, big bills; I've found them lying on the ground throughout my life. I've long since lost track of how many $10s or $20 I've pocketed thanks to this knack; the most I ever found at once was $60 (three 20s rolled up together). Of course it's always nice to find money, but it doesn't really happen consistently or often enough for it to have a significant impact on my quality of life; it's just spare pocket change. I sometimes joke that finding lost cash is my (trivial) super power. ;)
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I could go for some telekinesis - both on a large and small level. So in addition to manipulating objects, manipulating my own form to be able to fly, and so on, I could manipulate water on an atomic level to make it boil or freeze, disable moving parts in a gun, or stop or start a beating heart. There's very little you can't do with telekinesis.
That's what would be cool. What I would probably wind up with? I always seem to be over-charged with static electricity, so I'd probably have the power to tase people with a handshake or some such.
My super power would be the ability to commit to memory trivia so useless that it isn't even helpful as a contestant on Jeopardy. For example, did you know that the star Sirius rises over the Giza Plateau every year, on July 17, letting farmers know that they need to plant their crops? Or that chimpanzees have the largest testicles in the primate family? Dear God in Heaven, why do I remember this stuff?
I'd be able to forget my passwords at will.
Dream powers: Either a) be Mystique from the two X-Men movies (there is no third movie) or b) my combat hacker from Shadowrun 4th ed.
More useful power: Either a) the ability to make people tell the truth or b) the ability to temporarily jam electronics (specifically cellphones and cars of idiots)
My super power would be the ability to commit to memory trivia so useless that it isn't even helpful as a contestant on Jeopardy. For example, did you know that the star Sirius rises over the Giza Plateau every year, on July 17, letting farmers know that they need to plant their crops? Or that chimpanzees have the largest testicles in the primate family? Dear God in Heaven, why do I remember this stuff?
If you have a trepanning drill and a melon baller, you can scoop out the chunks of my brain that do this. :)
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People, in a general sense, tend not to make full use of a little power, so aside from a few Superman-types I don't think the world would be greatly different. Those motivated individuals with great power could indeed change the world in significant ways, making crops grow in deserts, wiping out diseases, etc. With them around, it might be a cleaner, happier world. Or WWIII.
If I had a small power, I think I would like to be a true polyglot. It would be nice to be able to share two-way communication with my tech support, the teller at the bank, and my buddy from the UK who calls us all "cheeky tossers".
Heh, reminds me of a story my friend told me when he and his friends were coming up with the most useless of super powers. I think the winner was explosion man, with the power to explode. I don't mean a huge explosion, just enough kinetic energy to paint a room with himself. So basically he has the power to commit very messy suicide at will.
Heh, reminds me of a story my friend told me when he and his friends were coming up with the most useless of super powers.
Seeing how common mutants appear to be in the X-men universe, I've often joked that the vast majority of them must surely have lame/trivial powers like the ability to detect baking bread unerringly within a quarter mile or some such thing. Not everyone gets to move mountains after all.
Personally I'd want the following; to be gene-sliced with a large bat to have wings, a cheetah to be extremely fast on the ground, an electric eel to hurl bolts of electricity and a canine (any) to be able to track by scent fairly well.
Yeah, I was a big fan of the Gargoyles TV show.
an electric eel to hurl bolts of electricity
I...I don't think eels can do that...
an electric eel to hurl bolts of electricityI...I don't think eels can do that...
No they can't, but the mutate gargs from the Gargoyles TV show could.
No they can't, but the mutate gargs from the Gargoyles TV show could.an electric eel to hurl bolts of electricityI...I don't think eels can do that...
Accursed cartoon logic.
Any who, if I could have any powers I would want to have wolverine/deadpool regeneration and Taskmaster’s photo-reflexive memory.
My more mundane power would probably be the ability to give people headaches by glaring at them.
I already have a superpower. I am utterly invisible to women.
(I stole that one)
Did you steal it the way Peter Petrelli does, where you touched someone else who had the power, or did you steal it the way Sylar does, where you had to eat someone else's brain?
I thought the thread title was the lead in for the trailer of a movie called The Internet
Heh, reminds me of a story my friend told me when he and his friends were coming up with the most useless of super powers. I think the winner was explosion man, with the power to explode. I don't mean a huge explosion, just enough kinetic energy to paint a room with himself. So basically he has the power to commit very messy suicide at will.
I don't think anyone would ever realize that they have this power. I think they'd just be walking down the street one day, stub their tow, get angry, and then kasplooie! Then they'd be up in Heaven, saying things like, "Well that was certainly unexpected."
Just thought up another: being able to rectally excrete unwanted body fat.
Run away! He's going to ... AAAAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
I have a knack for finding money on the ground. Coins, small bills, big bills; I've found them lying on the ground throughout my life. I've long since lost track of how many $10s or $20 I've pocketed thanks to this knack; the most I ever found at once was $60 (three 20s rolled up together). Of course it's always nice to find money, but it doesn't really happen consistently or often enough for it to have a significant impact on my quality of life; it's just spare pocket change. I sometimes joke that finding lost cash is my (trivial) super power. ;)
Weird, because my trivial super power seems to be losing cash. I think the most Ive ever lost at once was $60 dollars (3 twenties rolled up together) I've long since lost track of how many $10s or $20s Ive lost due to this knack. I think that I may have found my arch-nemesis!
I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers. My normalcy would propel me to celebrity status, a rare and precious flower.
I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers.
Wouldn't that make you Abnormal Man, a.k.a. The Gimp?
I'd rather be Alias Man than The Gimp or The Celebrity. I could also got for Where the Hell's My Podcast Man.
My wife casts her absentee vote for the ability to fly, preferably Hancock-esque.
I would either want my own natural weird ability enhanced(from Cold Resistance 3 to something higher or even Cold Immunity), or the ability to move at superhuman speed when riding my bike.
If I could have the power I wanted it would be telekinesis.
The reality: the ability to see random inane pieces of the future that have no real meaning to anyone. Just enough to be disorienting to me.
Extraordinary Debt - There's a superpower!
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I already have a superpower. I am utterly invisible to women.
(I stole that one)
Please note, I was with some friends, and we were all acting like idiots the night I thought of this power:
Real Power I would like: manipulating string/thread/wire or making plants grow(sometimes how I actually want them to).
Or I could be the person who can always find Waldo.
I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers.Wouldn't that make you Abnormal Man, a.k.a. The Gimp?
Well was the Omega Man a gimp compared to the mutant vampires? No... no he was our viewpoint hero. You other folk with your powers and your ever so fancy spandex outfits are, for me, the equivalent of a zombie apocalypse during mardi gras. Your deviant sperm and ova are a neo plague, destined to spawn a race of super beings,and your inability to understand the great responsibility and even emotional temperment required by anyone with superpowers will eventually end the world.
I'm the last normal man on Earth.
It's my job to stop you.
I haven't the foggiest how... but I'm huddled up in my home with the blinds drawn thinking on it. Oh believe that I am thinking on it.
::Bites into a handful of potato chips.::
I'd rather be Alias Man than The Gimp or The Celebrity. I could also got for Where the Hell's My Podcast Man.
I remember Where the Hell's My Podcast Man. That was one ornery dude. As a podcaster, he once saw I missed an episode and threw me up against the wall of a bodega (which is more painful that it sounds... I'm 50 miles from the nearest bodega) and then chastised me.
But when I told him my 94 (as of tomorrow) year old grandfather just signed his own DNR and that I've been in a holding pattern for a while, even WtHMP Man understood and threw me all the way back home, which somehow got my spine tied in a cherry stem knot upon landing. Really wish that guy could fly or teleport or somethin'.
I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers.Wouldn't that make you Abnormal Man, a.k.a. The Gimp?Well was the Omega Man a gimp compared to the mutant vampires? No... no he was our viewpoint hero. You other folk with your powers and your ever so fancy spandex outfits are, for me, the equivalent of a zombie apocalypse during mardi gras. Your deviant sperm and ova are a neo plague, destined to spawn a race of super beings,and your inability to understand the great responsibility and even emotional temperment required by anyone with superpowers will eventually end the world.
I'm the last normal man on Earth.
It's my job to stop you.
I haven't the foggiest how... but I'm huddled up in my home with the blinds drawn thinking on it. Oh believe that I am thinking on it.
::Bites into a handful of potato chips.::
Don't make me glare at you mundy.
Don't make me glare at you mundy.I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers.Wouldn't that make you Abnormal Man, a.k.a. The Gimp?Well was the Omega Man a gimp compared to the mutant vampires? No... no he was our viewpoint hero. You other folk with your powers and your ever so fancy spandex outfits are, for me, the equivalent of a zombie apocalypse during mardi gras. Your deviant sperm and ova are a neo plague, destined to spawn a race of super beings,and your inability to understand the great responsibility and even emotional temperment required by anyone with superpowers will eventually end the world.
I'm the last normal man on Earth.
It's my job to stop you.
I haven't the foggiest how... but I'm huddled up in my home with the blinds drawn thinking on it. Oh believe that I am thinking on it.
::Bites into a handful of potato chips.::
Mundy was eaten last week by zombiecopeater man. I've got his bloody molar-dented badge though, and some time soon I'm going to launch forth and devastate in Joe Mundy's good name. Soon I tell you.
I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers. My normalcy would propel me to celebrity status, a rare and precious flower.
Didn't they make this into a Darwking Duck episode?
Or I could be the person who can always find Waldo.
I've heard that many deaf people already possess this superpower.
I'd be Normal Man. The only person on earth without any superpowers. My normalcy would propel me to celebrity status, a rare and precious flower.Didn't they make this into a Darwking Duck episode?
I only saw two episodes, but I believes ya.
I'd rather be Alias Man than The Gimp or The Celebrity. I could also got for Where the Hell's My Podcast Man.I remember Where the Hell's My Podcast Man. That was one ornery dude. As a podcaster, he once saw I missed an episode and threw me up against the wall of a bodega (which is more painful that it sounds... I'm 50 miles from the nearest bodega) and then chastised me.
But when I told him my 94 (as of tomorrow) year old grandfather just signed his own DNR and that I've been in a holding pattern for a while, even WtHMP Man understood and threw me all the way back home, which somehow got my spine tied in a cherry stem knot upon landing. Really wish that guy could fly or teleport or somethin'.
Wow, WtHMP guy sucks. Now I'd much rather be Sympathetic Friend guy.
Wow, WtHMP guy sucks. Now I'd much rather be Sympathetic Friend guy.I'd rather be Alias Man than The Gimp or The Celebrity. I could also got for Where the Hell's My Podcast Man.I remember Where the Hell's My Podcast Man. That was one ornery dude. As a podcaster, he once saw I missed an episode and threw me up against the wall of a bodega (which is more painful that it sounds... I'm 50 miles from the nearest bodega) and then chastised me.
But when I told him my 94 (as of tomorrow) year old grandfather just signed his own DNR and that I've been in a holding pattern for a while, even WtHMP Man understood and threw me all the way back home, which somehow got my spine tied in a cherry stem knot upon landing. Really wish that guy could fly or teleport or somethin'.
I actually like WtHMP guy. It's not his fault all the mind reading powers went to Unlikely Lothario Man.
I like the going to bodega part. For you, however, there would be less excitement there.
My high level super power: control of time itself-speed it up, slow it down, stop it in its tracks, reverse it and the ability to go back and forth in time at will. Nom de Guerre (like the X-Mens names): Chronos.
More normal unusual ability: the ability to get the effect of a full nights sleep with only 2 or 3 hours.
I've been a fan of TK for years, but more recently thought the idea of duplication (ie Naruto style) could be very cool, you could accomplish just about anything in a few hours, and you learn anything your dupe does, so, you could learn quite a bit. hold 5 jobs at once, go to school, get multiple degree's at once, all the while only paying for one mouth to feed and one roof over your head.
If you do it right you could have your own role-playing group, no one else needed.
This was all true, not a game. But I was born with the ability to take away everyone else's powers, permanently, by concentrating for a moment. So here we are...