Unusual Superhero Settings

[Steve]

The Wonder Woman movie moved her origin story to the time of World War I, so it got me to thinking of other, less used settings that might make for interesting gaming with superhumans.

 

I’ve seen a superhero setting write-up for the Civil War (This Favored Land). It looks quite interesting.

 

What unusual settings have you played in or GMd?

[dsatow]

Nothing too strange:  In ones I've played or GM'd

1. Fantasy - Early 90s, just before the age of Xena/Hercules.  Worked well and was where I came up with the idea that fantasy heroes should be paid with xp abstracted as fabulous wealth rather than actual money.  Second try didn't go as well as it requires more preparation than I actually had time for at the time.
2. Space - Very Captain Harlock but the leader was a heroic megalomaniac.
3. Islands of Oceania - Players served aboard the HMS Saliva Queen, a converted cruise ship hydrafoil, as a punk rock superhero band.  Their foil was the Country and Western band lead by El Kabong. Enuff said.
4. Victorian England - Played a clank before clanks were in fashion in the mid 90s.  All the players were some type of immortal.  Went all the way up to WWI IIRC.

Ones that might be interesting:

1. Old West - I always liked the Wild Wild West TV show.
2. Time Jumping - Too many history buffs in my player pool to GM and not enough history buffs willing to GM.
3. Virtual Reality - similar to something like Wreck It Ralph.

[Lord Liaden]

I did play a few games in the setting outlined in Digital Hero #39: H.G. Wells' original War of the Worlds, in which Martian walking machines invaded Britain at the dawn of the Twentieth Century. The different factor in this version of the world, is that the toxic black smoke used by the Martians, which was lethal to the vast majority of humans, in a tiny percentage of them actually triggered the development of superhuman powers, which they used to fight the Martian machines. So, we had late-Victorian society and steampunk-style tech mixed with four-color superheroics, against the overarching plot of alien invasion.

 

Sadly it didn't last long enough to really develop.

 

EDIT: Allow me to include the illo of my favorite hero from the article, by our own Sketchpad: the mighty Britannic!