I am in development of a Renaissance setting with Superheroes.  Here are the basics:

All powers are random rolled
Every 1d8 roll of an 8 for a power gives a drawback
drawbacks are random rolled
Every 1d8 roll of an 8 for a drawback gives a detriment
Detriments are assigned by the Regent (GM)

Control is on a 1 - 7 level (7 controlled - 1 uncontrolled)
A fail roll (2 - 7) causes the power to simply not function
A Fail of 8 causes harm to the Character (Regent decides severity)
A roll of 1 always succeeds

From there it is an Italian setting with Florence to start.  The powers are being constructed to "fit" the years they are set in, including the names of the powers (Nuclear power would be unknown, so it would get a name like "Massive Heat or Sun fire")

What I would like is some suggestions on the powers and their names.  Old world style names for superhero powers.  And if you have anything you would want to see in the game let me know.

Let me get this straight? So your PCs get superpowers but they only work an a roll of 8 in 1d8?

Welcome to Whiffville, population your campaign.

I'm working on a supers game that starts in WWI and thought that was hard. The societal implications of a Renaissance supers game is bizarre. I think for the most part the person would be considered a witch and every attempt would be made to burn them at the stake.

Quote from: Onix;918376I'm working on a supers game that starts in WWI and thought that was hard. The societal implications of a Renaissance supers game is bizarre. I think for the most part the person would be considered a witch and every attempt would be made to burn them at the stake.

Perhaps, but, a really awesome Renaissance supers setting has been done, (well, late Renaissance/early modern/Elizabethan era).  It is one of many things that inspired me some when I was writing my own Renaissance setting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_1602
I HIGHLY recomend it as reading for any Renaissance supers game.
Of course, how ostracized supers will/should be really depends on the particulars with the setting. If supers have always been around to some degree, excessive "burn the witch" is pretty unlikely.  Keep in mind too, occult subjects were even openly taught in some places in Renaissance Italy... so some forms of magic (the "Natural Magics" which were predecessors of many sciences for instance) weren't that strictly prohibited by the powers that be.

But yeah, mechanics wise, I'll second the person who commented on how likely powers are to fail.

Edit:
As far as power names, there's always the "this sounds cool" approach, but, you could also grab some texts on Renaissance era religion and occultism and go through those for inspiration.  Dig in to some Italian folklore too.

Quote from: Aracaris;918705If supers have always been around to some degree, excessive "burn the witch" is pretty unlikely.

I'd imagine the opposite, although it does depend on the history of those that used the powers. If the church decided that one ability was granted by God, then if a super played their cards right, they may be considered a champion of the church. That would probably largely depend on when the power was first used and to what effect.

Now if a power was used in a spiteful way or used against the church in any way, it would probably be labeled as witchcraft from thereafter even if it had been okay before.

Quote from: Onix;918857I'd imagine the opposite, although it does depend on the history of those that used the powers. If the church decided that one ability was granted by God, then if a super played their cards right, they may be considered a champion of the church. That would probably largely depend on when the power was first used and to what effect.

Now if a power was used in a spiteful way or used against the church in any way, it would probably be labeled as witchcraft from thereafter even if it had been okay before.

When I designed my game, I had it vary a lot by locality (one thing fun about Italy being madeup of city-states is you can exaggerate their differences and make them respond differently, historically there were plenty of times they went against The Papal States, so having them do that in this case makes sense too), but the general approach I had from Rome and a few other places is, either you are a miracle worker sent as a sign from God he hasn't abandoned creation, or you are a heretic that needs to be hunted down and burned at the stake, or, if you repent, then you can be purified, and assuming that works out, then you can work for The Church. Basically when it comes down to it, The Church is in a supernatural arms race... having mages/superheroes/other powerful things that aren't in their ranks is detrimental to them, it means someone else has access to a powerful resource that could be used against them.

That said, if someone wants to make The Church just more lenient, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, so long as some attempt is made to work it into the setting's history, I can suspend disbelief at that point if it's handled decently.

Quote from: Aracaris;918859When I designed my game, I had it vary a lot by locality (one thing fun about Italy being madeup of city-states is you can exaggerate their differences and make them respond differently, historically there were plenty of times they went against The Papal States, so having them do that in this case makes sense too), but the general approach I had from Rome and a few other places is, either you are a miracle worker sent as a sign from God he hasn't abandoned creation, or you are a heretic that needs to be hunted down and burned at the stake, or, if you repent, then you can be purified, and assuming that works out, then you can work for The Church. Basically when it comes down to it, The Church is in a supernatural arms race... having mages/superheroes/other powerful things that aren't in their ranks is detrimental to them, it means someone else has access to a powerful resource that could be used against them.

That said, if someone wants to make The Church just more lenient, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, so long as some attempt is made to work it into the setting's history, I can suspend disbelief at that point if it's handled decently.

Maybe the Pope developed a really weird power that made him more open to people with the abilities? Even that would be hard to work out. Maybe he had little control over it at first and had to go into hiding for a time before he could show himself again. That would be especially valid if he had some kind of shapeshifter power.

Quote from: The Butcher;918360Let me get this straight? So your PCs get superpowers but they only work an a roll of 8 in 1d8?

Welcome to Whiffville, population your campaign.

I only mentioned the fail rate in that.  My mistake.

Superpowers will function on a "to hit" basis, with a roll under/at method.  So a control level of two needs a two or less, but an eight is an auto critical fail.

Quote from: Aracaris;918859When I designed my game, I had it vary a lot by locality (one thing fun about Italy being madeup of city-states is you can exaggerate their differences and make them respond differently, historically there were plenty of times they went against The Papal States, so having them do that in this case makes sense too), but the general approach I had from Rome and a few other places is, either you are a miracle worker sent as a sign from God he hasn't abandoned creation, or you are a heretic that needs to be hunted down and burned at the stake, or, if you repent, then you can be purified, and assuming that works out, then you can work for The Church. Basically when it comes down to it, The Church is in a supernatural arms race... having mages/superheroes/other powerful things that aren't in their ranks is detrimental to them, it means someone else has access to a powerful resource that could be used against them.

That said, if someone wants to make The Church just more lenient, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, so long as some attempt is made to work it into the setting's history, I can suspend disbelief at that point if it's handled decently.

Taking that into consideration is why I opted for Florence above a Rome setting.  More free thinkers historically speaking.  I do want to look into a possible Vatican "Avengers" (not that name by the way) that tracks down Superpowers that are evil or against the church.  The inspiration of their dedication would be Nightcrawler in his Catholicism.  

But it does bring up a dynamic that can be used for dramatic effect.  Church paid hunters chasing down powers like witch hunters, and anti-church movements trying to bring down Roman influence.  Expanding into Eastern Religions could be done over time, and using their basic concepts to give characters depth.

Quote from: Onix;918881Maybe the Pope developed a really weird power that made him more open to people with the abilities? Even that would be hard to work out. Maybe he had little control over it at first and had to go into hiding for a time before he could show himself again. That would be especially valid if he had some kind of shapeshifter power.

Giving the Pope a shapeshifting ability also opens the door to all kinds of conspiracy theories.... like, is he really even the Pope?
An ability that allows him to detect what someone else's power is could also make things interesting.

rway218 having your powers work or not depending on a "to hit" basis can be good... depending on more of the specifics of how that works. Your control level idea gives me some very very basic idea of that... but, I guess I'd have to see more of it to know if it would work decently.  Somehow a 2 out of 8 still seems a bit iffy, but, you have the idea of control level which makes me think not everything will be that difficult.

A fail that causes harm to the PC as a 1 in 8 chance is pretty high. You might want to shift that more towards "causes a complication for a PC." A complication could be harm to the player, or to allies, or unfortunately dramatic collateral damage, or it could otherwise put them at a disadvantage etc.

You should take a look at The Enlightened Man, it is a renaissance superhero setting. It's short ~50 pages, and it ain't dense text, but what's there is packed with ideas. Using Spark + Fate mechanics.

Superheroes are called "Enlightened" and yes the Inquisition wants to burn them all, while the pope is looking to assemble an army of Enlightened "angels" to support the church. Lots of interesting factions working at cross purposes.

It is available here, among other places (default price is in Canadian $).


As an aside, I've run some "Heroes by Gaslight" games of Simple Superheroes, but I haven't run a renaissance game yet. Gaslight games always result in players creating some really interesting pulpy heroes. I wonder what would happen in a renaissance setting. Reading this thread, and flipping through Enlightened Man, kindof makes me want to find out.

Would there be a better time period to use?  Or does that matter as much as how to handle Superpowers in general?

I am leaning toward 1 random power, 1 chosen power, and 1 negative result.  The negative would decrease as the power grew.

Like the mechanics, hate the time period...supers just seem more like magic and miracles before the automobile and electricity.  Could you do a time period / setting table for the power names?  Could provide a half page or so evocative description and how powers are viewed in that period.  Add more on your preferred setting time period.

Quote from: Thondor;923638A fail that causes harm to the PC as a 1 in 8 chance is pretty high. You might want to shift that more towards "causes a complication for a PC." A complication could be harm to the player, or to allies, or unfortunately dramatic collateral damage, or it could otherwise put them at a disadvantage etc.

....

Like this idea, that complication could be a genre typical behavior that seems anathema to players raised on kill and move on.  For Example, Silver Surfer probably has a couple 8 powers, yet he is forever reminiscing, and being perplexed by human behavior. Superman has to give some stern warning and ask for surrender.  Supervillian's (the more powerful ones especially) can't resist a bit of monologing.  Some hero or villains things could backfire on them and hurt them, but that would be their quirk.

I've been working on Salem World, getting the Hardcover ready for later this month I don't have much to give you.

We will be finding an event in History to exploit.  I'll be trying to get a basis for Powers to form, and be seen as much more than Magic; but still leave a group that sees all as evil.  When it comes to the powers list, they may be narrow in amounts that will change depending on the level each character has grown to.  Say a character has a power allowing for high and distant jumping.  They could grow their power to flight eventually.  

Like I said, the powers are still in their infancy so not much to give you.  They will most likely work on our existing Magic system for Prophetic / Kinetic powers as they grow in power through steps.