#worm powergen

[evil-jennifer-hamilton-wb]

C-PTSD & Worm triggers,

How would I write that? Is there a canon explanation of when someone would trigger from the build up of hundreds of smaller events? For reference, I'm trying to do a character that triggers from an abusive relationship, but I don't want one moment of worse abuse, the abuser would coat their abuse in coded language, and hide it, and keep the character from actually realizing that the situation is bad, so it's a trigger from the subconscious stress on the victim over a long period of time. I want the power itself to be a reflection of the victim's desire to "be enough" for their abuser, a thinker power that tells them what somebody desires and/or intends, but it does nothing in the end because the victim's level of effort and likability is not causing the abuse.

[greatwyrmgold]

Parahumans Powergen Reference

So, Wildbow's written a lot about parahuman abilities and trigger events over the years. If you know where to look, you can find it, but there's no centralized place to reference it. So I decided to make one.

If you know of sources I didn't include which you think would be helpful, please let me know! I'd like this to be a reasonably complete index for parahuman power stuff, and on my own, I can only include the stuff that I know how to find.

Movers

Document, listing several types of subcategory a Mover power might fall into.

Shakers

No documents at this time

Brutes

Document, with a detailed breakdown of subcategories associated with different kinds of physical harm, specific examples of powers in those subcategories, and some stuff about secondary Brutes which looks most applicable when you're running an actual Weaver Dice game.

Breakers

Document. It first clarifies what makes a trigger Breaker-ey and explains how they work. Also lists several categories of Breaker power, but only Death Breakers got fully written up. No indication of which triggers go with which categories, so maybe it's best to treat this as a set of example perks and drawbacks.

Masters

No document. The Stranger document mentions Stranger/Master powers. This is helpful for finding the line between "mess with people" Master powers and "make minions" ones.

Tinkers

Document, with a detailed list of "methodologies" and the trigger event types associated with them; you are expected to pick two, for extra flexibility, though they can be the same. Provides lots of detail, plenty of examples, a smidge of inspiration for secondary tinkers, and also Weaver-Dice-specific stuff. The gold standard I wish other power types had.

Document 2.0, much as above but with a somewhat different set of examples and more information on specialties. Can be handy if you need a "second opinion".

(Man, tinkers are spoiled. I get the sense that Wildbow was seeing a lot of bland or nonsensical tinkers in Weaver Dice games.)

Blasters

Document, with a list of different blaster types, the triggers associated with each, and some examples. Also has stuff about blaster element, secondary blasters, and dozens of pages of specific examples, complete with trigger.

Thinkers

Document, with several categories of triggers (and associated power types); plus some very vague stuff about "Thinker Types," incomplete Weaver Dice data, and a few specific examples.

Strikers

No documents at this time

Changers

Document, listing several different types and potential combinations, albeit without explaining what trigger events are associated with each. It still has a decent overview of what Changer powers and triggers look like.

The Stranger document mentions Stranger/Changer powers, explaining why it's a common crossover and giving examples.

Trumps

Document, eleven vague numbered Trump categories with trigger guidelines. Includes an introduction reminding you of important points. No insurrection.

Strangers

Document, with two pages of "WIP thoughts" on subcategories, about half of which have trigger event guidelines. Also has several pages of guidelines for crossing Stranger powers with literally every other power category. For some reason. Well, it's helpful, especially for power categories without their own documents.

[il3x]

Worm OC Tumblr I would like to present my silliest most self-indulgent OCs:

They're a largely non-violent villain duo known for high-profile thefts. I keep them around because a) fun to draw, and b) if I ever need a few low-stakes enemies to throw at other OCs they work pretty well.

Power details (a lot of details...) below the cut.

Null is a Tinker who specialises in breaking or "nullifying" other technology, including Tinkertech. The more complex, the easier to nullify, though some tech requires specialised tools or conditions. PRT have her down as an infiltration/countersurveillance Tinker, and there's some debate online as to whether she's actually a Thinker.

NU11 (Alicia Lee, she/her)

Age: Early 20s

PRT Classification: Tinker/Stranger 4.

Affiliation: Villain

Null uses her powers for infiltration, hence the Stranger rating. She "nullifies" such things as cameras, security systems, and locks. Her power sabotages a device's intended function, so if a lock is intended to stay closed, Null can get it open. Again, the more high-tech, the easier; Null learned mundane lockpicking to use on simple mechanical locks, since that's easier and less intrusive than trying to Tinker them open.

Null can only create tech if the result is solely for tech nullification, e.g. her EMP cannon. She approximates other gadgets by starting with a complicated piece of technology and selectively nullifying its functions. This is how she got her goggles' attachments. Her power sometimes manifests in combat-Thinker-esque ways, like "I want to nullify that load-bearing wall, on top of those people, using, oh, this handgun". (It gives her the necessary mental facilities to use her "tools" for the nullification, which can include perfect aim if the "tool" is a weapon. She is still limited by her body, though, so things like hand tremors will get her. Someone like Tattletale could tell her aim was due to one-off power hax.)

These two don't have much backstory, but Null triggered from being stalked.

-----

A shameless Kurogiri expy. Void's Breaker state is purple-black fog that acts as portals; Void can split himself up into blobs of fog (usually roughly door-sized) and anything or anyone entering one blob is instantly teleported out of another. Void chooses the exit point.

Void (Undecided, he/him)

Age: Undecided (adult)

PRT classification: Breaker (Mover) 7-ish

Affiliation: Villain

His fog acts like normal fog, can be kept out of a room by airtight sealing, can't really interact with solids in a meaningful manner. He has telekinetic control over his 'true consciousness' blob. Portals are anchored in place, so you can't blow them away or disperse them.

He can have a (seemingly) indefinite number of portals open at once, and a (seemingly) indefinite distance between portals, but there are some limitations:

He can only leave a portal somewhere he is, and he has to move conventionally. He can telekinesis himself along at up to his top human running speed, without exhaustion.

He produces more fog at a fixed rate, so there's a time delay between making portals

Portals vanish when Void exits breaker state, meaning he has to spend a lot of time in his fog state to use his typical M.O. (multiple portals far apart to get rid of enemies and/or retreat). He can't speak in fog state, or interact with solids objects much, and his senses are limited.

Void can also swap his consciousness, and effective respawn point for his human form, to any of the portals. Tldr: teleport himself and any people and loose and less-than-door-sized objects pretty much anywhere. Justifies a 7+, I think?

Physical engagements with Null and Void tend to end with being shoved in a portal and finding yourself in Australia. Void also leaves portals open to their HQ, so you're fighting a Tinker with a shortcut straight to her workshop. Fun!

Void is the powerhouse, but his weaknesses make him pretty useless without a partner. He flows in around the vault door or whatever, the safe is there, and... now what? The way his portals work, you have to enter them with some velocity, and he can't push the safe in himself - he's barely corporeal. Exiting Breaker state kills all the portals, leaving him Just Some Guy locked inside the vault for the cops to find.

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Fun Facts:

One of them chose their cape name as a pun on the other's. Null would be more in-character, but Void would be funnier, so I can't decide which.

Null does not need her EMP emitter to be that big, or to look like a weapon. She's just extra (and the look on her enemies' faces when she levels a gigantic Tinkertech cannon at them, albeit as a bluff, is well worth the cost in subtlety).

Null (or rather, Nu11) has never had a copyright suit from the Yangban. She's never had ANY contact with the Yangban. She's just covering her bases.

I don't have much backstory for how they got into villainy, but I reckon one or both of them worked for hire on the Blacklist, and they ended up hired for the same job. Power and personality synergy led to them striking out as a team.

Void has more of a serious backstory and motivation, though I don't have any specifics in mind. Null is here to break shit because she gets happy shard feedback from breaking shit. The pay and cool outfits are a bonus. (She also kind of turbo-nuked her civilian ID, but she wouldn't admit to that.)

Void helps with evacuation at Endbringer fights.

Void exists for the pun and cool power synergy. Null exists for me to draw in fun sexy outfits (at least, I think they're sexy? I'm aro-ace, so not really qualified to judge). In-universe, Alicia partially created the Null cape persona to wear fun sexy outfits, as a fuck-you to the people who insinuated that if she looked or dressed differently she wouldn't have been stalked and harassed (and a fuck-you to her stalker: "I do dress slutty, just not for you").

[dw-flagler]

worm oc who has a high level trump power that selectively rewrites reality at random intervals so that they always triggered with the power most suited to counter whichever enemy they're currently fighting.

[ragingcitrustree]

Trigger event: got too sadde about work and drunk and fuckin brain broke

Power: fuckin explode or sink into the couch or smthn idk

[il3x]

Okay, I see that the main question has been answered. But nobody has addressed the original tags! What a travesty!

Right. *puts on powergen hat, cracks knuckles*. Time, if I may try my hand at your idea, for some brownie brainstorming.

As the reblogs said, most Worm powers have a use in conflict, so my first step will be conflict-ification. I can think of a few ways for brownies to create or be used in conflict:

Brownies appear so delicious that they immediately grab the attention of everyone in the vicinity. They are a supernaturally effective bargaining tool.

Brownies create an effect (mundane or magical) upon consumption.

Brownies are summoned at extremely high velocities, making them effective projectiles.

I personally favour the last one. I think it's funny to picture a guy just lobbing brownies into his enemies' (and friends') faces.

Now, the trigger event probably determines the conflict-generation ability above. The "brownies" aspect of the power, though, likely comes from the individual and their surroundings. I'm thinking a chef or baking show contestant?

On to the trigger events! (Serious version. I may do a silly version later.)

Power 1 (Attention): In comparison to their academic prodigy siblings, this character always falls short of their parents' exacting standards, and is neglected and emotionally abused as a result - until they discover a talent of their own: baking. When they make it onto a national baking competition, for the first time ever, they have their parents' undivided attention. A chance to make them proud! This pressure gets to them, and their first challenge (brownies) goes horribly wrong. As the judge tears into them, they flash back to their parents' past demeaning words, and picture the scorn and disappointment they must be feeling right now. They break down on national TV, and they trigger.

This power felt Master-Stranger-y to me - bargaining people into minionhood, and deflecting attention from yourself to the brownies - hence a trigger centred on neglect and unwanted attention. The attention is widespread (live audience + TV broadcast), so their power also has a widespread effect. The irony of this power is that they will always get attention for their baking, not who they are as a person. Furthermore, they'll get a fair amount of flak for being The Baking Cape and publicly triggering from something "small", which can't be fun for someone with trauma from being belittled.

Power 2 (Effects): This character associates baking for others with care and comfort. Perhaps that is how they express affection, or how others express affection towards them. They trigger when a loved one is in a dangerous situation, and they have no way of helping. Depending on the effects, you could go with any situation - for brownies that grant or nullify powers, maybe their family member is in the Parahuman Asylum following incurable exposure to a parahuman effect? For brownies that grant physical abilities, maybe they and their partner are injured and trapped in a cave after a spelunking expedition gone wrong? Heck, maybe their friend just needs to relax, and they summon weed brownies. The sky's the limit!

Rationale: Fear of losing a loved one counts (loosely) as a Master trigger, and empowering others counts (loosely) as a Master ability. I don't really have cruel irony here, except that if their loved one was incapable of eating, their power would be useless. This is a fun one, since the possibilities are endless.

Power 3 (Projectiles): This character triggers when the high-end restaurant where they work is robbed at gunpoint.

Rationale: Blaster power - usually a long-range physical threat. I've also heard multiple threats cited as a Blaster trigger, so why not go with both? Brownie aspect is just the Shard taking inspo from its surroundings. This one isn't ironic, but it doesn't solve the trigger problem either - baked projectiles are a poor match-up against guns. It can only buy a distraction.

For a fun extension of this, the character is a Blaster/Shaker and fires desserts which generate a thematically relevant effect on impact. Ice cream making a cold field, and so on.

Whew! That was heavy. Let's lighten things up with the promised silly versions...

Power 1: Suburban mom whose neighbour (and rival) sold more cakes than her at the PTA bake sale.

Power 2: No clue. I guess the weed brownie iteration is basically the silly version already.

Power 3: Food fight.

And that's it for my brainstorming. Hope you enjoy, and I would love to hear more about the Brownie Cape!

Hello Worm fandom!

Does anyone know any good analysis/explanation on how trigger events and powers are linked? I don't really get how powers are determined, sorry.

[skitter-queen]

WORMBLR UNIVERSITY

Worm Classes: Practical First Aid Without Proper Tools, Benefits of Altpowers, History of Amy Dallon, Entomology, Analysis of Smugbug Pact Classes: Thorburn Analysis, Intro to Practioning, Reconstructing Rusty, How to Avoid Lying, How to Deal With Fell Feels, Analysis of Blakerose Twig Classes: Biology, History and Politics of Revolution, How to Lie, Science, Improv Theater, History of the Crown, Psychology 101 Ward Classes: Parahumans 101, Powergenning, Advanced History of Amy Dallon, How to Be a Superhero, Crime Fighting 101, Analysis of Ashtoria, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy P.E.: Yoga with Number Man, Gym with the Infante, Weaverdice with Wildbow, Swimming with Aquatic Wildbow

[evil-jennifer-hamilton-wb]

Cluster trigger sheet. Original pre-cluster powers are in the left column, the rows are for post-cluster power bleed. People who have read ward or know more about clusters please lmk if this makes sense.

[il3x]

On the powergen front, I came up with a Shard a while back, and a bunch of powers it could manifest. I'm calling it the Mirror Shard, and it's... really simple. You know how Kaiser's Shard's thing is "metal"? This one's thing is "mirrors".

In my old oc story, it was an Eden shard, so these were largely Cauldron powers (I had one oc who budded off a Mirror-shard cauldron cape and natural triggered) - but I'm not using the characters I made these for any more, so this is a free-use idea dump. Cue the manifestation ideas!

Blaster - Summon and telekinetically control a fixed amount of mirror shards. Shards are sharp (can act as weapons), but their main utility is as portals; any attack small enough to enter one shard can exit through another shard of the user's choosing (speed conserved).

Master

- Self duplication (à la Twice from BNHA). - Animate and control reflections (limited to a specific thing?)

Mover - Teleportation through mirrored surfaces.

Stranger

- Everyone perceives you as a reflection of themselves (looking/sounding exactly like them). - You could probably get some weird Breaker/Stranger power of merging with your reflection, to observe unseen from the glass. Perhaps combined with the Mover teleportation through mirrors...

Thinker - See something unusual reflected in mirrors. Past, future, emotions, parahuman abilities, etc. Plenty of powers up for grabs!

Brute - Reflect damage back to whoever dealt it. Like King, but more karmic.

Changer - Transform into a "reflection" of someone else. Horizontally inverted, e.g. scar on left hand now on right. Need a good view of them to transform, maybe need them to be looking back, but can hold the transformation (indefinitely?).

Trump - easiest manifestation is just "reflective" line of sight power-copying. To spice it up, maybe you copy what your shard decides is the "inverse", e.g. copy fire and get ice.

General themes include sight (many powers are line-of-sight), light, reflection and inversion.

And bonus idea, the mirror-shard Blaster has a mask something like these:

(source and source)

[il3x]

Neat idea!

What happens if he uses his power on another Case-53? Does it override the memory loss, or rely on things that happened afterwards?

Shitty cape idea #2: Optogenesis

A case 53 with a semi-transparent head and a visibly glowing brain (careful observation shows that the amygdala and hypothalamus shine the brightest). Can shoot beams of light from his head that hijack a target’s memories, making them see visions or experience vivid emotions from past experiences. While he can only make light beams with vague goals or desired impressions in mind, such as “feel frightened” “see a distraction,” etc, his targets fulfill this by suddenly remembering aspects of specific memories and reformating them to the current situation. Crucially, Optogenesis has no idea what specific effect his beam will have on individual targets will have outside of vague directives, and they can have very disparate reactions.

For instance, he could fire a “see me as someone friendly” beam at a pair of guards. Guard A suddenly sees Optogenesis as their best friend Bryce, and asks what brought him to this part of town. Guard B sees him as their darling mother, and inquires with some embarrassment as to why she’s visiting them on the job. A good part of Optogenesis’ routine ends up being yes-anding multiple people who all think he’s someone different without tipping them off.

His role in fights tend to be a crapshoot: a “feel stressed” beam fired at enemies might cause one of them to have a full-on panic attack as they start reliving traumatic memories. The other might just strongly remember the time they put off their midterm essay until the last minute, and keep fighting while pushing away the feeling that they need to get home and hit the books because Professor Jones can be a real hard-ass about extensions.

Optogenesis was mostly a small-time crook, sent out as part of the Nemesis Program to help boost the status of a specific cauldron hero, spending years causing minor nuisances in a small city and never making much of a scene. Unfortunately, Optogenesis’ effects can cause memories to be re-consolidated incorrectly, a small problem for people only effected once but a large problem for someone like the cauldron hero who got hit every other week in the course of fighting her hand-picked nemesis. The hero steadily lost the ability to contextualize any of her memories, leading to a full-on (and from the outside incredibly sudden) breakdown mid-fight. Because the rest of the world saw this as intentional horrifying escalation by a previously harmless villain, Optogenesis has since been on the run to avoid the birdcage on charges of psychological torture. Since he’s as confused as anyone about what happened, he tends to be reluctant to use his powers, but his inability to keep a low profile (a glowing brain will do that) means he often doesn’t have much choice. 

[wormbraind]

i think the important thing abt worm powergen for an actual person is to NEVER base it off serious trauma. i know that's kind of vague but aim for everyday inconveniences--they suck but they don't affect you much long term, and it can be fun to think abt what kind of power you'd get if it was actually bad enough for that.

[nonplatonicsubtext]

What does powergen refer to?

creating a new power for someone in the style of worm superpowers and triggers, usually but not always meaning using the weaverdice system

[shakertwelve]

i love coming up with worm original/au characters i’m only bad at the naming and the powergenning and the trigger designing and

[evil-jennifer-hamilton-wb]

oh this is fun okay!

I spent today at the US DMV. That's gotta be some kinda trauma right? After waiting for 3 hours only to be declined because my residency documentation was too recent, I crack. The beauracratic machine is the target, not any particular person. I'm thinking a shaker kinda power. I gain the ability to cause the number of steps required to complete a task to increase in a radius around me. the number of additional tasks increases the longer I keep the power active. It applies to myself as well.

one of the problems with doing worm-style powergens on yourself is obviously the whole "posting your wholeass trauma" thing but the other less talked about problem is that there's a good chance you'd end up with lame-ass powers. i know i certainly would

[evil-jennifer-hamilton-wb]

If anyone has a good name for the team, let me know Worm character making, current progress:

Emily, Cape name: Tether Emily has the ability to detach their mind as a breaker state. In the breaker form, The body has greater durability and provides no sensory information. The breaker state can move ~2 meters from the body, and has clairvoyance in a 1-meter radius from its position. The breaker form is invisible and has limited ability to interact with the world. Tether's costume is a long orange monastic robe, with her black hair tied in a bun. Ava, Cape name: Copacetic or Complaisant (Haven't decided) Ava has the ability to infiltrate any group as long as she's acting in line with an individual's desires about her. Longer exposure has a subtle master effect. Copacetic's costume is dark blue gown, with a pearl necklace and white headband in her long wavy brown hair. Allison, Cape name: Regress Allison slowly reverses the mental and physical development of any living things within her range, which she primarily uses for healing. Her own body is frozen in physically at 14. Regress's costume is a red dress in line with the lolita fashion trend in Japan, with lacy white clothing under the dress (idk what the clothing is called). Her light brown hair is worn in pigtails

Gavin, Cape name: Anodyne Gavin is a "reality" tinker that creates psychoactive medications that usually focus around perception. His tinker tech can create physically manifested objects, or remove objects, and the manifestation will only appear and be able to be interacted with by the user of the tinker tech. Anodyne's costume is a bloodstained doctor's coat. The costume has components designed to inject his tinker tech meds intravenously into his spinal cord, as well as a series of canisters containing inhalant meds. The medication is stored as a liquid to be aerosolised and sprayed towards opponents. Hayden, Cape name: Undecided Power undecided, but he'll be part of a 4-person cluster.

[thepariahcontinuum]

I was originally going to suggest this as a powergenning challenge, but I think the song "God was never on your side" by Motorhead is very Worm-core and wanted to see if you thought it matched up to any characters in particular. I'm still working through my reread of Worm and have decided not to assign anything to anyone until the Hat Lady shoots, to mangle the phrase.

It's a moody, depressed song that builds to a frustrated, impotent fury at God and His creation. In a world like Earth Bet, I'm guessing that's a common feeling.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o1hSSuc42P8

Taylor... this song is for Taylor.