In a superhero game, powers for characters can be divided up into a number of categories. For examples: mutations, chemical accidents, experiments, alien life forms, robots, androids, cyborgs, super-technology, etc. In most games, all of these are considered separate, defining characteristics. Those games also don't tend to address how those things can actually result in superhuman abilities. In Jupiter's Children the defining reason behind how some technology, experiment, or mutation can result in a metahuman is the Jupiter Effect. Basically, any character that is 'more than human', or capable of something not normally seen in humanity, has some element of the Jupiter Effect in their make-up. This is true even in those character types that, for all outside purposes, seem to have created their super-powers without any outside interference.
For many characters, the result of the Jupiter Effect is obvious. Mutations, strange beings, and such can easily be blamed on the Jupiter Effect. But the Effect is not something as simple as radiation or a mutagenic ray. It is more of a spark of difference or a possibility of change. The great thing is that you, as a player, don't really have to worry about what it is or what it does. You don't even have to say in your traits or concept what element of the character was effected by Jupiter. Only the understanding that there is a game mechanism that allows the character to be so extraordinary.
In other words: The Jupiter Effect is the mechanism that allows greatness.
Now, In Character, the people in the game can believe whatever they want. To them, someone that's smart enough to build a super-ray gun and a powered suit is just a genius scientist, inventor, or engineer. The guy with purple skin, wings, super-strength, x-ray eyes, and a need to eat rocks is an alien. The beautiful girl with pointed ears, glowing sword, and the funky powers is a sorceress from another dimension. But to us, as players of the game, they're all also part of the Jupiter Effect.
In Jupiter's Children, all characters are assumed to be unique. No two wizard-like characters are exactly alike, no two vampire-characters are exactly alike, no two pyro or cold-based powers are exactly alike, no two aliens are alike, etc. Even those characters that somehow are given their powers by another character (usually due to some In Character process) are encouraged to be unique. Powers granted by technological sources are unique as the technology involved is unique.
Now for some examples.
- The Super-genius. While smart characters can run the range from purely intellectual brilliance to creative geniuses to cosmic awareness, they all have something in common: an ability to do something with their noggins that is above the human norm. That ability is how they were effected by Jupiter.
- The Inventor: if one were to look at Reed Richards before he was dosed with Cosmic Rays and got all stretchy, he would still be considered a metahuman on JC. Because he had the ability to invent extraordinary things. The guy that makes a suit of armor that can fly, shoots lasers, and has all sorts of nifty powers is still a child of Jupiter as that particular sense of invention that allowed him to imagine, develop, and create the powered armor is so extraordinary. The manifestation of his power is just external to his being, but still intrinsically linked. If one looks at comic books, these characters only have a limited number of such suits. In some cases they are simply older models, experiments, or backups. In other cases each suit has specific sets of powers. But, in general, there's a very limited number of suits and they are not used by others... and are not mass-produced. It's the work of an individual artisan (or a very limited team).
- The Recipient. Sometimes a character didn't invent anything, but receives the benefit of another's inventive genius. Think of James Bond. He has such wonderful toys... which were invented by Q and his team of scientists specifically for the agents. The agents in Men In Black are another example. They have a wealth of resources in the realm of super-technology available, but a limited number of any one thing. (And quite a bit of it they probably wish they didn't have...) In other cases, the recipient may receive powers through other means, fantastic, scientific, or another device. How that impacts on the character is up to the players involved.
- Alien Beings: Ah, what a can of worms this seems to open up! Remember, though, the uniqueness of characters in Jupiter's Children. Just because the extraordinary abilities of a character are based on that characters racial makeup does not make them any less unique. The fact that the character is an alien is the character's background. And if racial background were of such overriding importance... well, we could only have one human on the game, eh?
- Robots, Androids, Cybernetics, oh my!: Whether created, added to, or invented, a character is still a unique being. The robots and androids in the superhero genre tend to be one-offs (at least the intelligent ones). Cybernetics usually fall under the inventor or recipient concepts. Robot or android characters can be looked at as an invention, or similar to an alien or fantasy concept. In either case, someone made them. Much like someone made the cybernetics that enhance another character.
The information in the subpages of CharactersConcepts should also be helpful in sorting things out.
NewsFaq -- CharactersConcepts
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