Compelling, original, fan-created superhero settings?
- Thread starter jdrakeh
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DarkKestral
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You could look online at RPG.Net, as the boards there seem to be going though a supers phase at the moment. As I recall, there have recently been threads about supers who get their powers from Elder gods and become eldritch, twisted, things of horror... Soviet supers... superpowered Dr. Manhattan or Superman types as conquerors... I think WWII supers... and even pulpy types like Doc Savage or the Shadow. There have also been some interesting discussions about what the world would be like, so if you've got the time and the inclination to do some worldbuilding that would work. However, none of the ideas were fully fleshed out, so all of those would require the aforementioned time and inclination. Of the previous ideas, I personally think the Mythos-origin and Soviet-origin supers threads were generally the best for me in terms of inspiration.
If you're not at all interested in doing the pre-campaign work or at the moment simply find it something you don't have time for, I don't believe you're in luck. A reasonably detailed "fan-made" pre-built setting is not something I've seen out there, which is a shame, because I think the Mythos and Soviet ideas, for example, have some interesting aspects to them that aren't generally covered by more mainstream supers settings, and have sufficient depth and breadth to have what I suspect would be a non-trivial design headspace. However, I think they failed for several reasons which lead me to suspect most fan-made projects will fail similarly. In the event you DO find one, please post it here, as I'd be interested in it.
If you're not at all interested in doing the pre-campaign work or at the moment simply find it something you don't have time for, I don't believe you're in luck. A reasonably detailed "fan-made" pre-built setting is not something I've seen out there, which is a shame, because I think the Mythos and Soviet ideas, for example, have some interesting aspects to them that aren't generally covered by more mainstream supers settings, and have sufficient depth and breadth to have what I suspect would be a non-trivial design headspace. However, I think they failed for several reasons which lead me to suspect most fan-made projects will fail similarly. In the event you DO find one, please post it here, as I'd be interested in it.
DarkKestral
First Post
You could look online at RPG.Net, as the boards there seem to be going though a supers phase at the moment. As I recall, there have recently been threads about supers who get their powers from Elder gods and become eldritch, twisted, things of horror... Soviet supers... superpowered Dr. Manhattan or Superman types as conquerors... I think WWII supers... and even pulpy types like Doc Savage or the Shadow. There have also been some interesting discussions about what the world would be like, so if you've got the time and the inclination to do some worldbuilding that would work. However, none of the ideas were fully fleshed out, so all of those would require the aforementioned time and inclination. Of the previous ideas, I personally think the Mythos-origin and Soviet-origin supers threads were generally the best for me in terms of inspiration.
If you're not at all interested in doing the pre-campaign work or at the moment simply find it something you don't have time for, I don't believe you're in luck. A reasonably detailed "fan-made" pre-built setting is not something I've seen out there, which is a shame, because I think the Mythos and Soviet ideas, for example, have some interesting aspects to them that aren't generally covered by more mainstream supers settings, and have sufficient depth and breadth to have what I suspect would be a non-trivial design headspace. However, I think they failed for several reasons which lead me to suspect most fan-made projects will fail similarly. In the event you DO find one, please post it here, as I'd be interested in it.
If you're not at all interested in doing the pre-campaign work or at the moment simply find it something you don't have time for, I don't believe you're in luck. A reasonably detailed "fan-made" pre-built setting is not something I've seen out there, which is a shame, because I think the Mythos and Soviet ideas, for example, have some interesting aspects to them that aren't generally covered by more mainstream supers settings, and have sufficient depth and breadth to have what I suspect would be a non-trivial design headspace. However, I think they failed for several reasons which lead me to suspect most fan-made projects will fail similarly. In the event you DO find one, please post it here, as I'd be interested in it.
It's not online, but the best campaign I ever ran personally was a supers game set in 1900.
The way I did it:
1) Use the setting for Space:1889 as the main default.
2) Add those additional Wellsian and Vernesian elements you want.
3) Crib liberally from pulp fiction, especially sci-fi/fantasy pulp like John Carter or Leigh Brackett's Skaith stories, tales of Atlantis, etc.
4) Find some other sources: Wild, Wild West (TV show and movie), Kung Fu (original series), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Gotham by Gaslight, William Gibson's Difference Engine, Sherlock Holmes stories... Even things that aren't strictly period can get incorporated with some clever rewriting- Hellboy, Wu Shu martial arts flicks and James Bond movies can be rewritten to make fine period adventures.
5) Put your own spin on it: in mine, the Martians were addicted to opium...and it made them into psychotic workhorses (think Alien Nation). I also stole stuff from Michael Moorcock's Bastable books (large colonial air-navies, a mysterious warlord from the East, etc.).
6) Listen to your players. If they get inspired- and almost anyone knows about this era to get stoked about this- their imaginations will spur a lot of your campaign. I was trying to figure out how to work in Atlantis, and one of my players turned in a PC background based on an anime character who was an adolescent amnesiac Atlantean with a whip. Before long, they were caught up in the struggles between Atlanteans and Lemurians (and the surface world besides- thank you Namor, the Sub-Mariner stories).
The way I did it:
1) Use the setting for Space:1889 as the main default.
2) Add those additional Wellsian and Vernesian elements you want.
3) Crib liberally from pulp fiction, especially sci-fi/fantasy pulp like John Carter or Leigh Brackett's Skaith stories, tales of Atlantis, etc.
4) Find some other sources: Wild, Wild West (TV show and movie), Kung Fu (original series), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Gotham by Gaslight, William Gibson's Difference Engine, Sherlock Holmes stories... Even things that aren't strictly period can get incorporated with some clever rewriting- Hellboy, Wu Shu martial arts flicks and James Bond movies can be rewritten to make fine period adventures.
5) Put your own spin on it: in mine, the Martians were addicted to opium...and it made them into psychotic workhorses (think Alien Nation). I also stole stuff from Michael Moorcock's Bastable books (large colonial air-navies, a mysterious warlord from the East, etc.).
6) Listen to your players. If they get inspired- and almost anyone knows about this era to get stoked about this- their imaginations will spur a lot of your campaign. I was trying to figure out how to work in Atlantis, and one of my players turned in a PC background based on an anime character who was an adolescent amnesiac Atlantean with a whip. Before long, they were caught up in the struggles between Atlanteans and Lemurians (and the surface world besides- thank you Namor, the Sub-Mariner stories).
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