A Bit of History
Legions of Super Heroes
Once upon a time there were mighty heroes whose power rivaled even the gods. Today (1550 AUC) there is but one man of that stature, but many, many more who exceed human limits to some degree. That man, known only as the Emperor, was one of the earliest supers, or so it is speculated. It is known that he was a centurion during the Siege of Syracuse, that his first power was to absorb the powers of other supers at the time of their deaths, and that he absorbed the super-genius of Archimedes. The Centurion, as the Emperor was once called, came to the attention of Caesar Augustus in 749 AUC, and served as Rome's Champion against foreign supers. At that time The Centurion had slain and absorbed the powers of several other supers, and only added to his repertoire during his service to the fledgling Empire. During the mad reign of Caligula, the Centurion became concerned with where the Empire was going, and in a palace coup took the throne for himself. He has remained the Emperor ever since, keeping his position through wise governance, the application of his many powers, and a constant campaign to remain the only super on Earth.
He is not the only person with unusual, even amazing abilities. The Imperial Household is large, and the Emperor has fathered thousands of children with his many wives. These children have some of their father's great ability, and tend to become exemplars of human potential. It is not unusual to see an Imperial child who is smarter, faster, stronger, or healthier than any person has a right to be. The Emperor's children, and most especially the highly gifted ones, are raised to enter Imperial service. It is the presence of so many extraordinary humans in the legions and curia that has helped the Empire grow and develop.
This is a mid to low-powered supers campaign with a strong dose of alternate history. The PCs would be children of the Emperor who act as a trouble shooting team, solving border conflicts in Tibet and than heading off to the New World to take care of problems with First Nation supers. The technological level of the Empire is up to the GM, though with eight centuries of stable and wise rule by a super-genius and his normal genius offspring, the sky's the limit. Judge this aspect of the setting based on your party, they may be happiest with early 21st century tech, something older, or possibly a futuristic romp through a Roman Empire that spans several systems (and thus fights against alien super-beings).
Another option is for the PCs to be supers trying to avoid the Imperial Special Talent patrols. If captured they will be taken to Rome for the Emperor to absorb their powers, a definite death sentence. Perhaps they are freedom fighters from a recently conquered region, or maybe secret supers from within the Empire. Working in the technological considerations, this could be a great alt-history supers dystopian cyberpunk campaign.
Men of Bronze
This is by far the easiest way to integrate supers into a historical milieu. Take your favorite classical myths, mine are those of Ancient Greece. Look closely at the heroes of those myths and assign them super powers. Herakles is super-strong, but what else? Tough, yes, brave, at times, but he cannot fly, shoot blasts of fire, or any of the things that most modern super heroes can do. This is fine, because his foes can't either. In many ways this plays out as a low-powered supers campaign, though with a twist. The actions and desires of the gods should be ever present, and indeed should often drive the plot of the adventure. This places the PCs in opposition not with other supers (who they may be able to defeat) but with the gods, who being divine are usually beyond the capabilities of the heroes. Instead, they PCs must use their skill and cunning to solve problems and win the day, in effect circumventing the gods through human ingenuity, courage, and perseverance.
Captains Courageous
In the spring of 1580 a rogue comet struck the earth's atmosphere and shattered into fragments. Two of these pieces of cosmic matter were larger than the others and managed to descend further towards the surface before themselves exploding, raining particles of themselves over the countryside. The first exploded over the Salisbury Plain in Southern England. The other spread its fragments from Coria to Ciudad Rodriquez in Spain. Although at first these events spread terror, the panic soon died down and the comet was only of interest to Astronomers and other learned men.
Over the next few weeks, however, something extraordinary began to happen. People and animals who dwelled in those regions began to exhibit strange and wondrous abilities. In England the Crown quickly seized upon the potential of having super-men as its agents, and began to entice into Her service those it could find. Furthermore the waters, crops, and livestock of the area where thought to contain whatever seed that caused the growth of super human abilities, and so these were gathered and sold to the highest bidder, with a large portion of the money given to the Queen by her loyal subjects of Salisbury.
In Spain, events proceeded differently. The inquisition was called in to investigate and determine if these magical powers were divine graces or satanic taints. Oddly, those who did not feel called to serve the Church or the King were tainted by the devil, and thus put to the torch. Those who felt a special calling were inducted into either ecclesiastical or royal service. These saints were trained and readied to be set loose on Spain's many rivals, most notably England and France.
Five years later the coming storm broke in the English Channel, as Spanish and English ships and supers battled for the fate of a small island nation. Although a defeat for the Spanish, the Armada Campaign proved costly for the English. A state of armed readiness has reigned since that time, and both powers are poised, like two wounded lions fighting over the same kill, to charge at each other's throats once again.
This campaign can be played two ways. As a stand up action fight between rival supers and their national ambitions, fought across Europe and the New World. The other option is to focus on political machinations in the courts of Europe and Asia, as one shrinking and one growing super power play a tense game of intrigue and assassination. Either way it would be a shame not to work in the English Sea Dogs, Spanish Treasure Fleets, and First Nation supers.
There Were Giants in Those Days
David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah, one of the classic stories of Western Civilization, a story of the plucky armor-bearer of the King slaying the champion of the invading tribe. This was a common, at least as we can tell from written records, situation of the time. Two champions would go out and face each other, each representing his people, and the ensuing fight would decide the battle. This is the making of a campaign, for the PCs are the champions of their people, the priest-kings and hero-chieftains of ancient tribes facing their foes with nothing but steely eyes, undaunted courage, and a bit of super powers.
The campaign should be set in a far removed and ancient era, be it the Prehistoric, Copper, Bronze, or Iron Age. The PCs are the champions and leaders of allied tribes, and must do more than fight super-villains (in this case the champions of opposing tribes) but also see to the care and feeding of their followers. This is a campaign that may at first seem to be on a small scale, the events and actions of the heroes are not earth-shattering (except for Urtal, Lord of the Ishzatites and master of the Earth Dragon, Karth-al). However, this should be ran as a gritty survival game, where the PCs must deal with inter-tribal and intra-tribal politics, famine, flood, wild fire, and all manner of disaster, man-made, natural, or super. If the super-genes can be passed on, this can easily become a dynastic game, where over a long campaign their metahuman champions can raise a little tribe of wanderers into a conquering empire.
For a different sort of game, check out my article appearing in the current issue of Pyramid Magazine 3/24 Bio-Tech from Steve Jackson Games. "Martian Tech" explores the bio-tech weapons and equipment found on Mars in the Roma Universalis setting (which was published in Pyramid 3/20 Infinite Worlds, also by yours truly). Naturally the material therein can be lifted out for any sci-fi game that uses biotechnology, not just games about planetary adventure and Romans on Mars (and Luna, Venus, and Mercury).
