High Fantasy Superhero World-Can It Work?

[kipling]

A friend and I once bashed out a magic system for superheroes which was based on the idea that all superheroes are magic, whether they know it or not, and that they each have a totem spirit. Sometimes it's obvious -- Batman = bats, Spider-man = spiders -- sometimes it's not; the totem spirit can be something archetypal (such as Superman).

He combined that with a different magic mechanic (that rulers of countries controlled the source of magic for each country, in that it was a gem of some kind, so one kingdom had rubies, another had diamonds, and so on. When the king wanted to grant magic to someone, the recipient had to have a gem of the appropriate type, which the king would then invest with a portion of the kingdom's magic, and tied it to fealty to the king. Size and quality of the gem determined how much of the kingdom's magic it could hold.

Because the superheroes were the only ones with magic not politically aligned, they became a kind of vigilante force, able to act on repressive regimes.

Of course, he threw in other things (elves, for example, were neat freaks, the kind who worried about where each leaf fell in their forest), and we had quite a lot of fun. The nature of the magic systems, however, meant that it always had a political edge to it.

 

[WayneLigon]

From The RPG Times...

Providence (1997)
Of all the role-playing games I've presented here, only Providence fully embraces its 4-color heritage. Set in a fantasy world of winged races and social castes, Providence harkens back to the basics of good versus evil. Player characters are encouraged to take the roles of righteous heroes who believe that sacrifice and idealism can change their corrupt world. Because of its emphasis on scrupulous behavior, Providence is something of an oddity as it counters the attitude and nihilism of its contemporaries.

PCs have the choice of being either one of the winged races of noble blood, a "glider" who rides the wind currents by using membranes that line the sides of the body, or the Fallen--wingless and disgraced members of society who scrounge for survival below the clouds. Aside from winged flight, superpowers run the gamut of traditional abilities from energy blasts to magic spells, though only a select few can wield these powers. Altogether, Providence offers a compelling game world that brings the fascination back to being a hero (albeit with super powers) rather than a "superhero." If you missed this role-playing game the first time around, Providence was republished in 2001 by Hubris Games

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I have this game, along with a couple supplements for it. THere were actually a lot of support books for the main book itself, though I only picked up the 'hero team' book. It's probably the only superhero/fantasy game I've ever seen.