This post first appeared in 2012...
Before I talked about the possibilities of fantasy gaming enlivened by concepts of gods borrowed from comic books. In that discussion, I neglected the abstract cosmic entities, peculiar to Marvel--several of whom were the creation of Jim Starlin. Adding these sorts of deity-level beings also suggests a way to revitalize the hoary old great wheel or develop a trippy planar travel sort of setting wholly different from Planescape.
Let's take a look at a few of Marvel's concepts given form:
The Living Tribunal has three faces representing equity, vengeance, and necessity, and he likes to go around judging things. He might be the supreme being--or he might just be the supreme being's prosecutor. He's probably lawful neutral (or maybe just lawful).
In a lot of fantasy Law and Chaos are in opposition. In the Marvel cosmic entities pantheon, Lord Chaos and Master Order work in tandem, perhaps manipulating events to show the superiority of one side or the other? Maybe they're engaged in a debate or a game rather than a battle? Separately, Lord Chaos has a visage that could easily hang above a humanoid altar and bald Master Order could easily be the patron of monks.
Chaos and Order also have a servant embodying both of their philosophies (perhaps the True Neutral of balance?) called the In-Betweener, who sometimes seems to pursue his own agenda.
Eon is a weird looking guy that guards the cosmic axis. (Maybe that's what the Great Wheel spins around?) He can also dole out "cosmic awareness" if he needs to.
That's just a few examples. Perusing the list of the beings appearing in Marvel's various cosmic sagas out to offer a lot more ideas.
2 hours ago