Let me start off by saying that this is the second of two game ideas that I am currently shopping around to see which holds more interest.

Now the idea that brought you here. I recently read the excellent Elseworlds Batman series called the Doom That Came to Gotham by Mike Mignola. It is a fabulous comic blending the Batman mythos with the Mythos and it really got me thinking about the possibilities of that kind of setting. Heroes and villains powered by ancient pacts, the demon inside them, arcane rites, tomes of forbidden knowledge, the touch of an Old One, wearing god-haunted armor that keeps one's heart beating with clawed hands, or any other sanity eroding thing we can come up with. Villains don't rob banks - they search for the items necessary to bring their god to the world or make deals to ensure their power and ignore the doom it calls down or practice black arts to extend their lives.

It is all things Mythos (and more than a little Pulp Sword & Sorcery influence ala Clark Ashton Smith) mixed with the modern mythology of the superhero. It would be dark. People would die. Cities might crumble. The world might even come to an end. But it sounds to me like it could be a hell of a ride in the meantime.

This game would be Adult for full freedom to explore the themes involved. The system involved would be the excellent Sorcerer system. If you don't have it or are not familiar with it that's okay. It's an easy system to learn and I will include all the rules you would need to know in game. The game's themes would revolve around "How Far Are You Willing To Go?" and other more typical Lovecraftian and superhero themes.

Anyone interested? Any questions?
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was off-topic, at 13:30, Wed 04 Nov 2015.

In reply to deadmanshand (msg # 1):

I would definitely be interested in that!

Lovecraft plus superheroes? Interesting combination. Superheroes are notorious for violating any and all physical laws, of course. So… what if there's a reason supertypes can break the laws of physics?

What if the ultimate power source of any superhuman ability is some sort of Eldritch Entity From An Uncomfortably Far Realm?

Given this premise, supertypes must therefore be in direct, intimate contact with Cthulhoid influences every time they use their powers—complete with the sanity-breaking side-effects of said influences. Not everyone will be able to withstand those malign influences equally well; the ones whose minds break under the strain, will make up a disproportionately large fraction of the supervillain community.

Go ahead, write up a preposterously overpowered hero for your character. That character's excessive power level will be accompanied by an equally excessive degree of Cthulhoid… call it 'taint', perhaps? …in their life.

As for the Lovecraftian entity (-ies) which are the source of superhuman power, they probably shouldn't have any awareness of the effect they're having on mundane Earth. After all, one hallmark of Lovecraftian horror is the notion of vastly powerful Entities which are, not truly malevolent, but instead, supremely indifferent towards humans. They don't wish us ill; they don't wish us well; they don't even notice us.

The continuing subtle influence of Lovecraftian entities would go a long way towards explaining why characters in superhero universes tend not to behave the way normal (sane) people would…

In reply to Cubist (msg # 3):

To me the crucial element to Lovecraftian super heroes would be the idea that every time you use your powers you are directly empowering those entities from outside of time that will one day return. By fighting, you are hastening your own defeat in the long run. That serves the cosmic horror that fuels most of the mythos.

Not usually a big fan of superhero stories, but very much like HPL themes. I want to give this a try.

Ohohoh. I think this sounds awesome!

Cubist and TenFoldMore - Exactly what I had in mind.

I've read that one, sounds like a great setup to a game.

*tosses proverbial hat in proverbial ring*

Very much interested. I suggest that some of our characters have more awareness than others of the true situation, which would allow for a range of character types and attitudes. And perhaps some of the villains have realized the truth and fight superheroes for altruistic reasons. No one would believe them, though, for obvious reasons.
This message was last edited by the user at 23:12, Wed 04 Nov 2015.

In reply to purpleprose (msg # 9):

This is isn't meant to be a normal superhero world with Lovecraftian elements underneath. All the strange people - all the superhumans and heroes and villains - are all aware of the horrors in the shadows. It's what sets them apart. They know that monsters lurk in the dark places. The game is about what they do with that knowledge.

The normal people - citizens and cops and common criminals - are just collateral caught up in their wars. The normal crimes? Just symptoms of the real evils moving in the world.

This sounds a lot like HellBoy in some respects, and that intrigues me.  I'd love t play a dark hero,bartering away pieces of his soul for more power, power that he or she needs to protect the world from the NEXT BIG EVIL.

I think I would be up for a game like this, depending on the system used and the scope of the game (i.e.- huge metaplot, or simply sandboxy).

Sounding like Hellboy is to be expected as Mike Mignola did write the graphic novel that inspired the idea. The system used will be Sorcerer. Which the original post has some information on. It's an easy system to jump into. The scope will be sandbox with story arcs with the occasional crossover event, shall we say? Think how the Marvel Cinematic Universe does it. Individual stories with the occasional Big Crisis that brings everyone together.

And now a couple of ideas I wanted to run past everybody.

First off I am thinking about having each player create a couple of villains but they won't be their villains necessarily. They will be a pool from which to draw from. And it won't be full mechanical creation. More of a fluff outline kind of thing that I will fill in and adapt to the setting.

Secondly I am considering going the DC city route. Not in using an actual city from DC comics but in creating a city for the game itself or even several if people want to be the heroes of different cities. Create cities grown to reflect the nature of the setting.

How do those ideas sound?

Coming up with villains for the game as a player sounds like fun, and seems like a good way to get a variety of different types with ideas from different writers. Would we just make these ourselves and send them to the gm, collab on things like this in a thread, or have one player come up with a bad guy and everyone throws their two cents in?


Fictional cities are usually easier, require less research, and award the gm more artistic freedom, works for me.

Just as I imagined. A few questions:

• Historical setting? Present-dayt? Ambiguous, with aspects of both?
• Do Lovecraft County settings exist in this setting? Could we play the defender (or one of the defenders) of Arkham, say?

I expected you would not like that idea but I thought I would run it by you to at least get a definite yes or no. This looks like more or less my ideal game and I can't wait to come up with ideas.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 03:18, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

Modern day and I think I'd like to stay away from Lovecraft Country and the actual Mythos. Give us a little more room to create our own stuff.

With the amount of responses this thread has garnered it is the game idea I will be moving forward with. Give me a few days to put it together and I'll get the link up here. I will still answer questions here till then.

*throws a belatedly-interested hat into the ring*

As the man who introduced an unsuspecting public to Captain Cthulhu at the '85 Pacificon, I gotta say it's about time someone DiD this.

If this gets off the ground I'd also be interested.

I would not be requesting a join because I am already involved in too many games, but I appreciate the vision. If this becomes a thing, I might lurk.

I thought that this campaign concept seemed familiar to me, and I finally remembered where I had heard it. Has anyone hear ever listened to the Wild Talent: Age of Masks audio files? These were actual live roleplay sessions recorded at some cons. The PCs were pulp-inspired masked vigilantes who through their investigations learned that they were all linked to the King in Yellow.

http://actualplay.roleplayingp...superheroes/page/12/

I should have the game up in the next day or so, folks. Been doing a lot of work on it offsite.

And I might have to give those files a listen to later. Thanks for the link, chupabob.

Thank you for the update. I wondered what had happened.

I might be interested in this, too :)

Open!

link to another game