So, I was (and still am) working on a custom setting for a game of Mutants and Masterminds I'm gonna DM in a couple weeks, and I've been hit by a bolt of inspiration. Namely, I was wondering what a superhero setting would be like if it were set in a time with less advanced technology rather than in a modern or near-future setting.
I was thinking that the setting would benefit more from a classical feel rather than a renaissance of medieval feel, with heroes based on ancient Greek demigods. There's also the option of giving it an ancient Sumerian theme ala the Epic of Gilgamesh, or maybe even an ancient Egyptian feel.
I'm still working it out in my head, but I was wondering what /tg/ thinks. Do you think that ancient superheroes is a good idea? What time period do you prefer? Should it be set on earth, or in an entirely different setting?
>>47774329
>Ancient Superheoes
All you gotta do is play D&D. Everyone is a super. And it's ancient.
Rolled 8 (1d20)
>>47774368
>All you gotta do is play D&D
Rolling to resist making a comment about it being summer
Come on /tg/. Is nobody really interested in this?
Jason and the Argonauts were the Avengers of the ancient world, only with a talking ship instead of a helicarrier.
Demigods and heroes were the supers of their day.
>>47775416
So was the Trojan war the big multi-property crossover event which took far far too long to reach the climax?
>>47775490
Of course! And then you get the Odyssey and the Roman knock-off, the Illiad.
>>47775416
Would the superheroes all be philosopher kings, like Odysseus and the other ancient demigod heroes?
>>47774329
>ancient superheroes
sure, and you surely know that hero comes from Greek heros, right?
But please, please, please, no capes except chlamys (or other appropriate garments such as a lion skin).
>>47774329
Maybe set it in a generic/mixed antiquity setting, maybe even in Atlantis or something. Have the city of Atlantis that is a melting pot of culture, that'll allow you to have superheroes from all over the ancient cultures duking it out with various ancient super villains.
And if the gods are real, they could be the source of powers, in a way. Either from divine boon or curse, or spirits that endow you with power, or your ancestors channeling their powers, you now have tons more origin stories.
>>47774329
Wild Talent has a free supplement on an ancient greek setting
go mine that for ideas
>>47774329
I've done this in medieval times with a great amount of success. But alas I've found this thread only a few minutes before I leave for work. It seems you've got a good idea about this already, but I feel one of the more interesting things you can do is play with the dynamic of who has the powers.
And i mean in depth. The quantity of people with powers will determine quite a lot, as will the power level of the game. Consider the ramifications of the power level as well, will only other legends be able to contest their actions? Or will a sufficiently large amount of regular people stand a fighting chance?
Another is to keep in mind what can hurt the players. For example I was using a different system than you (savage worlds), and had to limit access to certain armor powers that in a modern setting wouldn't have mattered, but in a medieval one would have made players neigh immortal (for minimal power points).
>>47775668
Yeah but I was thinking less "indestructable except for the heel," more "shoot laserbeams from your eyes."
>>47775741
Aw shit, that right there is an excellent fucking idea. Definitely a better way of giving them some sort of hero city than just dumping them in Athens or something.
>>47775822
I'll look into it
>>47775875
I was thinking that, if Supers got too big for their boots, The Gods would probably pay more attention and bother them more about not stepping over the line (See: Asclepius).
>>47774329
i mean, someone already kinda beat you to the punch with greek gods and their children having an impact on the modern world.
if only he had kept those filthy romans dead, the egyptians in a seprate universe, the Norse dead and buried because SG1 did the Asgard so much better, it would have been wonderful. prehaps if he had collaborated with another author dealing with wizards and their penchant for things that explode, it would have gone better
>>47776043
Man, I remember when Riordan wrote good books. Good times.
When I say superheroes, I mean full on Superfriends/XMen style superheroes. Not just 'controlling water a bit' or 'being smart.' I mean full on fucking comicbook superpowers.
One more bump before thread dies
>>47775604
Hercules was basically The Hulk.
Odysseus was Tony Stark, and we all know who Diomedes was.
>>47777119
>we all know who Diomedes was
Well, yeah, he's the guy lying down in >>47774329Or maybe that's Zeno? No, Zeno was the Riddler.
>>47774400
Well, he has a point.
D&D is the Medieval Fantasy Superheroes RPG.
But sure. You could do it with M&M. You're either looking at a Hercules type thing, or just using M&M to run D&D campaigns (there are lots of people who apparently do this on Atomic Think Tank.)
>>47777214
Yeah, but it doesn't have SUPER heroes, just regular heroes.
>>47778011
What doesn't have Superheroes?
>D&D?
Characters can swim through lava, survive a direct hit from a ballista bolt, walk away from falling from terminal velocity, and create their own universes. They can effectively mind control a dragon through sufficiently high skill bonuses in diplomacy or bluff and no magic, and have it be permanent.
These are super heroes. It's less flexible in what you can build since you have to pull things from a list rather than a points-based build-it-yourself, but they're undoubtably superheroes.
>M&M?
There are hundreds of DC and Marvel characters which are fairly faithfully represented on Atomic Think Tank, and a bunch of seriously quirky builds of DC characters published by green ronin.
Again, superheroes.
>>47778113
I'm not trying to make a setting with superheroes: I'm trying to make a superhero setting.
While you could characters characters as powerful as superheroes in DnD, they're not superheroes. They don't have secret identities or sidekicks or stop bank-robbers or do any of the things that make you think of comic book heroes.
Legolas and Green Arrow might have almost identical powers, but only one of them is a superhero.
>>47778182
Ah. Your focus is not on the superhuman aspect of being a superhero, but the social aspect?
That's just setting. You could do that stuff with D&D just about as easily as with M&M.
And (if you consider something like Marvel a Super-Hero setting), secret identities are far from a universal superhero trope.
But okay:
So M&M, ancient mythology themed.
You could have the characters be avatars of various gods, historical and fictional.
Maybe they hold down regular lives as well, and when divinely powered, they stop looking like themselves, and look like the god powering them instead.
I would choose not-earth, and that way you have an excuse to make up new and interesting gods, crib gods from various settings (I would consider some of the D&D gods for ideas), grab gods from different cultures and time periods and have mongolians, celts, vikings, indians, and greeks all interacting.
You could also include fantasy races of some sort, if you felt so inclined, rather than using all humans.
>>47778339
I like the idea of divinely influenced powers happening suddenly later in life. Kinda feels like XMen a bit, only revered by the people instead of hated by them.
>>47777147
>Zeno was the Riddler
I can absolutely imagine the Riddler using an arrow's flight to prove that motion doesn't exist.
It's god of War Anon.
Also semi-high tech but classical gods setting Asura's Wrath could be a good inspiration.
I totally want to play Asura in a game of Mutants and Masterminds
>>47777147
>>47777119
Wasn't Diomedes a peerless swordsman who kicked so much ass he actually made a goddess bleed?
>>47780499
Fuck, I read it as Diogenes, not Diomedes.
>>47780499
It's shocking how Diomedes gets overlooked so often in the Illiad when he was probably the second greatest warrior in the war, and unlike all the other Heroes *actually got home quick, and lived a full happy life.*
>>47780590
Power rankings are more or less as follows:
Odysseus w Prep Time
Achilles
Hector
Diomedes
Greater Ajax
Odysseus
Agamemnon
Menelaus
Little Ajax
Patroclus
>>47780590
>actually got home quick, and lived a full happy life
What was he? A faggot? Jesus christ. He got home to live a happy life? What a moron. Now you know why he got overlooked. He's hit.
>>47780971
Odysseus spent literally a decade trying to do precisely that.
>>47775588
You mean the Aeneid. Illiad is Greek too.
>>47780922
Agamemnon > Odysseus without prep time
>>47780971
You mean like what Percius, THE greek demigod hero, ended up doing?
>>47780922
very little love for Menelaus...
Although, the most powerful person was obviously King Priam for quenching Achilles' bloodlust with a heartfelt word and a tear or two.
>>47774368
I begrudgingly agree. DnD isn't good at a lot of things, but starting at around level 11 you are just superheroes.
>>47783957
Menelaus wasn't really famous for being a great hero, though.
>>47780499
Mostly because Athena did all the work for him.
The one time he tried anything without her was against Apollo, and Apollo was almost literally "lolno fuck off mortal" to him. When he saw Ares beside Hector, he nope'd the fuck out so hard Athena had to personally drag him back to the fight.
