A lot of the fun of role playing games is getting the chance to 'live' your fantasy. For many people today, fantasy isn't being a knight in shining armour - it's Superman, Wolverine or Duncan McLeod. Luckily, the World of Darkness can easily be adapted to bring superheroes (or villains) into the gritty world that many gamers have come to love.
At it's most basic level, role playing superheroes in World of Darkness is as easy as creating new Merits. Merits have always been the catch-all of World of Darkness, allowing a character to take any ability that isn't covered by the base system. White Wolf publishing laid the grounds for using Merits to adapt World of Darkness to superheroes when it published Second Sight - the canon book on all things psychic. Pretty much every psychic ability imaginable is presented as a Merit, or series of Merits.
A superhero roleplaying campaign can be run with just the World of Darkness core book, and some creativity, but there are a few supplements that make it easier
The following are some popular 'superhero' settings that can easily become an alternate setting for the World of Darkness, and a few supplements that may be useful:
Role Playing X-Men
Adpating mutant superheroes to World of Darkness is both easy and fun. The gritty, haunted World of Darkness fits well with the mutants secret societies, and the constant fear of exposure and fight for acceptance.
For many mutant powers, existing rules in the World of Darkness Second Sight and Skinchangers supplements should cover everything you need. Combat focused superpowers can be adapted to World of Darkness best with some input from the Armory book. Players with access to any of the main storylines - Werewolf, Mage or Vampire - will find that many of the special abilities of these supernatural creatures can be used as guidelines for building mutants: Garou claws and healing abilities make a great starting place for building Wolverine.
In general, World of Darkness adapts to mutant powers best by using unique Merits. But don't be afraid to take existing sources as a starting point.
Highlander Role Playing Game
For fans of Duncan and Connor McLeod, the very inventive Hank Driskill wrote everything needed to adapt Highlander to the World of Darkness. The rules, notes, and (of course) copyright can be found at Highlander: the Gathering.
Green Lantern Role Playing Characters
Recently, the Corps have exploded, with different ring bearers for every color of the rainbow, and any of the corps should be adaptable to World of Darkness without much trouble.
The easiest way to build a Green Lantern (or any corp character) in a World of Darkness alternate setting, is to build the Rings (and lanterns) as Mage artefacts. Since the rules for creating artefacts are already set out, it can be fairly simple.
Having an existing Willpower stat makes the Green Lantern corp exceptionally easy to bring in to WoD this way - just base the ability to use the Mage artefact off Willpower (hey, maybe the little blue guys that run the corp are actually Enlightened Mages that managed to make the jump to the Supernal Realms?) For the other Corps, it might be best to replace Willpower with the Corps driving emotion.
For those who don't like the idea of using artefact rules for building the Power Rings, Merits, Spirit Fetishes, and unique psychic powers can all be adapted for roleplaying Green Lanterns.
Generic Superhero Role Playing
The above are some basic ideas to get you started. In the end, any superpower you can imagine can be adapted to World of Darkness with a little bit of thought. Role playing superheroes, supervillains, or just crazy old Batman (who isn't super anything, but still kicks butt like he is) can be extremely rewarding.
And for those who choose to bring superheroes into World of Darkness canon - X-Men meeting a Werewolf Pack could be a fun battle, and the Vampire that tries mind control Bruce Wayne or a Green Lantern is in for a massive surprise.
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