A new school?

[Cubist]

The Claremont Academy is for superpowered teens, and it more-or-less maintains a 'secret identity' as an expensive private school. It serves the FCPBP campaign well as an epicenter for superteen angst and action. All well and good, but I think FCPBP might have room for another school-for-supertypes, a school which caters to the needs of a different segment of the supertype population, and this here is me putting the idea out for people to comment on.

Basic idea: This new school is all about training supertypes of any age, not just teenagers, in the use of their powers. This school is publicly known as a training facility for supertypes; no 'secret identity' needed here. I expect that any PCs who are students here would be heroes, or at least working towards that goal, but t

The school doesn't require its students to be heroes, or at least working towards that goal -- but any PC students should be among that segment of the student body that does want to be heroes. The fact that heroing isn't mandatory means we can have NPCs (supporting cast, background characters, etc) whose powers really don't lend themselves to the proverbial "never-ending battle" of superheroing. Age-wise, the student body ranges from 9 to 90 and then some, which offers opportunities for character interaction that might be hard to find at the Claremont Academy.

Yes? No? Good idea? Bad idea?

[Raveled]

My question is, what narrative purpose would this school serve? OK, there's more than one school-for-powers out there, fine. But we already have Claremont and Nicholson. Why do we need a third with even less focus? What stories would you tell with the place that you can't tell with the existing schools?

[Electra]

One local institution that hasn't gotten much use in the past few years is the Albright Institute, which is where adult superheroes used to go for powers testing and advice in how to use those powers. Albright is also a place for people to go if they think they might have metahuman potential. If you feel like your hero or other heroes needs support in learning how to use their powers, that might be a good place to expand upon again. There are also a number of places where different types of adult heroes congregate: The Freedom League, The Lab and the other superscience HQs, Parkhurst for mystics, etc.

The problem with a publicly known training center for superheroes is twofold. First off, it would be a trouble magnet. Some supervillains merely want to carry out their evil schemes in peace, but a surprising number will gladly take an opportunity to try and take down some heroes, especially if they can take those heroes unawares. Knowing exactly where that center is gives villains a perfect target, and a metahuman population that is mostly trainee heroes and non-heroes is going to be tough to resist. The second problem is one of secret identity for the people who work/train there. Part of the appeal of Claremont for the kids who live there is that they can be normal people as well as superheroes. That wouldn't be the case at any public training center. Superheroes are good for ratings, but only if you can say something about them that nobody else can, like what their secret identity is. A place like that would quickly be crawling with tabloid journalists, reality show scouts, and simple curiosity seekers.

On balance, it simply doesn't seem that a school like this would seem like a good idea to anyone thinking of building it in-universe. If there's sufficient interest from adult heroes, perhaps a place like Claremont could offer a couple of evening continuing education classes for heroes who need more training?

[Cubist]

My question is, what narrative purpose would this school serve? OK, there's more than one school-for-powers out there, fine. But we already have Claremont and Nicholson. Why do we need a third with even less focus? What stories would you tell with the place that you can't tell with the existing schools?

As I see it, this new school would be a plot device along the same lines as both Nicholson and Claremont, with the significant distinction that the new school is not explicitly restricted to teenagers (i.e., Claremont) and younger (i.e., Nicholson). The biggest question mark I see is, are there enough post-highschool-age characters around that such a school would really be worth bothering with in the first place?

As to the question of what sort of stories you could tell at the new school which you could not tell with C. and/or N: Stories about characters who aren't children or otherwise pre-adult.

One local institution that hasn't gotten much use in the past few years is the Albright Institute, which is where adult superheroes used to go for powers testing and advice in how to use those powers. Albright is also a place for people to go if they think they might have metahuman potential. If you feel like your hero or other heroes needs support in learning how to use their powers, that might be a good place to expand upon again. There are also a number of places where different types of adult heroes congregate: The Freedom League, The Lab and the other superscience HQs, Parkhurst for mystics, etc.

Hm. Okay, it looks like there are already some perfectly adequate pre-existing in-universe resources for what I had in mind, and it's just a matter of actually, like, using said pre-existing resources in stories. I think I'll let my idea die a quiet death from neglect and/or disuse...