A while ago I posted about two sites to help take some of the creative load off your shoulders. Today, I thought I’d give the links to a few more similar sites, except this time narrow it down to one particular topic. Superhero powers! If you need some ideas to get your creative juices flowing, these sites might help.
1. Springhole.net – http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/superpowers.htm
An easy to use system that involves 100% random generation. No need to fill out a form!
What the generator looks like.
Some results from this site:
1) Your powers are rapid learning and passing through solid objects.
2) Your power is creating fire.
3) Your powers are becoming tiny and controlling air.
4) Your powers are transforming into a gaseous form and seeing through illusions.
5) Your powers are becoming tiny, healing quickly, transforming into a gaseous form, and seeing in the dark.
Verdict:
While not giving an in-depth description of your superhero’s personality and weaknesses, this generator does exactly what it’s supposed to – come up with completely random powers. The level of brevity is a plus as well.
2. Inkwell Ideas – http://www.inkwellideas.com/roleplaying_tools/superhero_generator/
More complex than the above generator. Inkwell is useful for those who want some control over what abilities your character has. This generator requires you to go through several steps to create your superhero, but its excellent for creating backstories and personalities.
The Inkwell Ideas generator lets you set certain parameters.
Some results from this site:
(Note that information about the superhero’s powers are given in boxes. The text below is purely the randomly generated ‘background’ information)
1) After a mugger killed Ice Man’s brother, he joined a police academy at a very young age. Ice Man obsessed over training and quickly rose to the top of the class. Ice Man finished in good standing and returned to fight for justice in Ice Man’s hometown.
2) Owl was once a child’s doll. A special arcane ceremony brought him to life. But these ceremonies never have good endings, so Owl had a difficult, misunderstood, and downright evil early life. But Owl’s outlook on life changed after finding love and since then he has tried to make amends for past transgressions.
3) Researchers in the computer science department at Georgia Tech left the program ‘Swordfish Boy’ on and unattended for far too long. An update of self-writing code went awry and ‘Swordfish Boy’ was born. Fortunately he was correctly programmed with Asmiov’s laws and ‘Swordfish Boy’ has proven to be a beneficial entity.
4) As a top university research scientist about to run out of funding, Dr. Interlude was desperate for a breakthrough. The Brain Rewriting experiment worked on hamsters, cats and dogs, but not on chimps. But it knew that wouldn’t be an issue on humans because humans didn’t have the same complication. So Dr. Interlude became the experiment’s first and only subject. Unfortunately, the experiment skewed Dr. Interlude’s worldview and now it sometimes fights for what is right and sometimes sees what is right differently.
5) Tarot Dog was found by a classified scientific mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. Transported to Earth, it was studied for years by the country’s top scientists. But the experiments drove it mad. In time, Tarot Dog escaped, but it is said to have caused no direct harm.
Verdict:
Good for when you have a partly-formed idea for your protagonist/antagonist. If you’re just looking for a quick result, however, I’d stick to the above generator, as this one can take as much as five minutes to finish. That being said, it does provide hugely detailed origin stories which can form the basis of a full-length novel.
3. Ran Gen – http://www.rangen.co.uk/chars/powergen.php
Probably the most simplistic generator on this list, Ran Gen comes up with a single power with one mouse click. If you need a (really) quick idea, then this is perfect for you.
What the generator looks like. Press ‘generate’ to … generate.
Some results from this site:
1) Omnipotence
2) Pyrokinesis
3) Glass form
4) Clairaudience
5) Control over shadows
Verdict:
Well I’m essentially going to copy what I said about Springhole here; these generators are so alike. Ran Gen is the most basic generator on the list. If you don’t want to spend ages selecting options from drop-down boxes to come up with a character, then this is exactly what you want. Ran Gen really sticks to the strengths of random generators; a solitary click of the mouse gives you a completely random power.
The Aeon Academy 