Gestalt: A Mythic Supers Setting

March 27, 2009 11 comments

Original superhero settings are something I’m always on the lookout for. Too many settings, especially in roleplaying games, are merely rehashes of standard Marvel and DC universes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and I certainly enjoy those tropes and that style of play myself. Given that superheroes encompass so many different genres, from detective stories to fantasy to science fiction, and that the Marvel and DC universes are hodge-podge kitchen sink settings that evolved over time, it’s hard to come up with something new that will meet the expectation that all those elements will be included, and do it in a way that’s consistent and coherent. We all sort of accept that comics are burdened with the baggage of the Golden Age and Silver Age, simpler times with less sophisticated writing. New universes have to meet current standards of quality and continuity without the automatic pass on silliness the old standards get.

Gestalt: The Hero Within meets all of those criteria.

In this world, superhumans embody values and principles and concepts, much like gods of ancient pantheons. Powers are thematic along these lines. Supers themselves are known as “gestalts” (hence the name), as they embody archetypes of the collective consciousness. One can be the gestalt of just about anything: a gestalt of Strength, a gestalt of Laughter, a gestalt of Pity. A Pure Gestalt is a physical manifestation of that collective consciousness, a being formed out of nothing but mankind’s collective hopes and fears. More common are Bonded Gestalts, where the gestalt-force has somehow linked with or chosen an individual to manifest or utilize the power. The gestalt-force is described as being extra-dimensional in origin and possibly sentient. There are “waves” of gestalts, as the extra-dimensional energy breaks through, although a person’s gestalt abilities can remain latent until some traumatic incident occurs. The triggering event is typically thematic with the type of gestalt.

Within this scope, anything is possible. Want to play a mythological god? Be a Pure Gestalt, that being reborn into the modern era. Want to play a typical superhero with an pseudo-science origin? The pseudo-science was the triggering event. Captain America? There are regional gestalts that embody the spirit of a Nation or City. Want to play James Bond, Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer? All figures that exist in the collective consciousness via pop culture, you can justify their existence here. Magic, horror, science fiction, fantasy, any genre can be justified via this common origin.you can make anything work, and make sense, in the context of the setting. That’s brilliant.

The setting is just detailed enough to be useful without being so overly detailed as to leave no room for originality in your own campaign. There’s a timeline, explaining the Gestalt waves, and the existence of older gestalts. Politics, government, culture, how every aspect of the world has been touched by the existence of gestalts is explained. The heroes, villains and super-teams of major nations are outlined, but not all of them are statted out. There are even aliens. All of this allows you to use bits you like and ignore the rest, and to play the game as four-color or gritty as you choose.

There are actually two versions of Gestalt: The Hero Within. One is an M&M Superlink product, designed for use with Mutants & Masterminds. The other is for the HERO System mechanics. The “fluff” in both is the same, but each version goes into detail on character creation, rules tweaks, and stat blocks for NPCs and common gestalt archetypes. I read through the M&M version for this review, as I’m more recently acquainted with that system, but only skimmed through the HERO version. Not surprisingly, the HERO version has a greater page count to accomodate the greater complexity of the system. The M&M version is tight, and of like quality with Green Ronin’s own M&M material. The best bits of this setting, however, are in the fluff, and with very little work Gestalt could be adapted to Savage Worlds or any other supers roleplaying system.

If you’re looking for a good superhero setting that allows you to keep all of the genre tropes while providing consistency and continuity, give this a look.

Want to learn more about Gestalt? Read on…