Superheroes with challenges

[warbeads]

Not being PC or putting people down (one of my four is a special needs kid  ) but I am looking to put together a "challenged" themed superhero team (obviously the three versions of Professor Xavier and Oracle provide Wheelchair heroes/heroines) but it gets stickier with other disabilities.  Crutches I can probably scratch build.  Blind heroes (DareDevil IIRC) exist and I can use them for a schematic for a superhero.  Deaf Superheroes?  Was there not a deaf superhero in one of the Marvel/DC stories?   

How far does good intent take you down the emotional/mental challenges road before you inadvertently "cross the line" and unintentionally move from character playing and move to negative stereotype?  Just as the difference between irony and sarcasm, as pointed out recently in the JewishWorlReview.com website, plays out in relationships; so too the design of a good "challenged" superhero and a badly stereotyped character makes all the difference in result.  This is a very delicate area and I want to proceed slowly as I work on this themed team.   

I'm using Supersystem so any suggestions on how to build in the challenges (and ways to overcome them) are good.  Not sure if I will ever field this team in a public setting    because the effort to defuse negative reaction might be more hassle than the game experience but I can see playing this in a private setting o solo just to see how it works (or doesn't.)

Gracias,

Glenn

[HerbyF]

I used to play a superhero many years ago. He was a nuclear scientist who suffered from severe radiation poisoning. In his no-super state he was wheelchair bound, but as a superhero his ailments gave him the ablity to manipulate elements around him at a atomic level. Similar but not nearly as powerful as the character in that recent superhero movie. A real life bit of trivia, Lou Ferigno played the hulk  & is nearly completly deaf.

[mratomek]

Building on that idea (Lou Ferrigno), maybe a team of heroes based on real people (with amped super powers) that had challenges:

Lou Ferrigno (deaf): Super Strong
Stephen Hawking (motor neurone disease): Super Intelligent
Lance Armstrong (cancer): Speed and Endurance
Micheal J. Fox (parkinson): Chameleon
Samuel L. Jackson (Stutter): Sonic booming voice

Here's a list I found

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_0060.shtml

Could be fun and not stereotype the challenge, but show characters that overcome and succeed despite the difficulties in their lives.

Good Luck.

[wellender]

Echo is a character from Daredevil.  She can watch someone and then mimc their actions.  She can be found in the Heroclix Armor Wars release.  The Chief from Doom Patrol is in a Wheelchair.  He is from the Crisis release I believe.

I wouldn't worry about the sterotype thing.  All of these characters and the ones you mentioned are portrayed in a positive light.  As long as your have a scenerio that does the same I wouldn't think it's a problem.

[Hitman]

Terminator from DC only had one eye.

[fourcolorfigs]

In Supersystem we have:

LIMITED MOBILITY
BP Cost: -10 pts.
AP Cost: none
Effects: Models possessing this trait move only 1/2” for each AP spent on movement, and may never charge. Models possessing this power may not purchase Extra Movement or Hyper Movement.


We also have the Unstable power mod:

Unstable
BP Cost/Reduction: -3 pts. per level (max 3)
Effects: Unstable models suffer from personal demons or distractions (drug abuse, alcoholism, ailing family member, etc.) which can inhibit their performance during a battle. Before the battle begins, roll a D6 for each level of Unstable a model has purchased. Any even results on these die rolls prompt a roll on the table below:


Unstable Effects Roll Effect
1 -1 Strength
2 -1 Agility
3 -1 Mind
4 -1 Resolve
5 -2 AP
6 -2 Vitality


Hope this helps!

[Doc Twilight]

You know, I just started playing "Champions Online" after quitting City of Heroes many moons ago, and I am still sort of amazed that there isn't a Wheelchair option for mobility - even a hover chair of some sort. It's been done in the comics, AND the Pulps, AND VSF, and it seems a gross oversight.

-Doc

[Puuka]

Just to add

There is a Chief Heroclix from Doom Patrol in a weelchair (Clixed in Crisis set)
Destiny is Blind