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Tyger
2008-03-26, 08:07 PM
Any good suggestions for a great superhero RPG? My experience thus far is limited to playing Heroes Unlimited by GURPS, way back in the early - mid 90s. Yeah, I am old.

But lately my fascination with supers has been rekindled with the MMORPG City of Heroes (http://cityofheroes.com/), Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey's new podcast books The Secret World Chronicle (http://www.secretworldchronicle.com/), and by an old favorite of mine that I came accross in a used books store the other day, George R. Martin's (ed) series, Wild Cards.

After a rather disastrous end to one of my groups D&D games (mine unfortunately) I am looking for something else to run. I was thinking of Shadowrun, another staple fun game of mine, but something about spandex, capes, and the self-righteous cries of superpowered beings with the law on their side is calling to me. Now to find a system that lets me do that.

So, any suggestions are appreciated. And if you could include why you like the system as well, that would be great!

Collin152
2008-03-26, 08:11 PM
I am obligated to mention the Classic Marvel Rolplaying System.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-03-26, 08:16 PM
There's always Mutants and Masterminds, too.

StickMan
2008-03-26, 08:26 PM
There's always Mutants and Masterminds, too.

I second this as well. Awhile back there was a poll of top RPG by ICv2 that placed Mutants and Masterminds as the second best RPG behind DnD. Not really sure how much ICv2 matters but still I would put it there as well.

Its easy to use understand and perfect for the setting.

Grug
2008-03-26, 09:42 PM
Is there an SRD around? I'm also itching to get my super on

Gaiwecoor
2008-03-26, 09:46 PM
There's always Mutants and Masterminds, too.

Thirded. Awesome, slick system. The only thing you'll need to play is a single d20.


Is there an SRD around? I'm also itching to get my super on

It heavily uses the d20 system, so you'll be used to most of it. Unfortunately, some of the basic mechanics are labeled as "Product Identity," so I don't think you can get the core rules as OGC.

BardicDuelist
2008-03-26, 09:50 PM
M&M is good.

I prefer GURPS for anything that's not D&D, superoheros included, for the simple reason of it meaning that my players and I need to know only two systems.

Cainen
2008-03-26, 09:59 PM
M&M is one of the best uses of the d20 system I've seen.

GURPS Supers will work if you're not going to whine about the mechanics being more thorough, and Godlike is good simply because of an interesting dice mechanic. There are a lot of superhero RPGs, and I'm not even close to having seen(or played) all of them.

blennus
2008-03-26, 10:15 PM
Ever heard of Phoenix (http://members.shaw.ca/orionuk/Phoenix.v0.1.pdf)?

Currently in two (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74976) games (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71373) using that system on these forums.

Collin152
2008-03-26, 10:18 PM
Thirded. Awesome, slick system. The only thing you'll need to play is a single d20.



It heavily uses the d20 system, so you'll be used to most of it. Unfortunately, some of the basic mechanics are labeled as "Product Identity," so I don't think you can get the core rules as OGC.

Marvel RPG is a unique d100 system. it's all you ever roll. Well, maybe theres a six sided roll hiding somewhere, but it's nearly all percentile.

clericwithnogod
2008-03-26, 10:18 PM
Champions fourth edition. Nothing beats the Big Blue Book.

Occasional Sage
2008-03-26, 10:29 PM
If you're wanting spandex and boldly declaimed speeches about nobility, I think they (waves hand upward) have you covered.

If you want a different twist on superheroes, I suggest having a look at Godlike (http://www.arcdream.com/godlike/). It's very, very different than any other superhero game I've seen.

Thinker
2008-03-26, 10:38 PM
Mutants and Masterminds is amazing. Very streamlined and fun to play.

Jerthanis
2008-03-26, 11:34 PM
I hate to jump on the bandwagon here, but Mutants and Masterminds is amazingly solid. Not only is it the most streamlined, yet robust Superhero RPGs I've seen, it's also probably the most well balanced point based character creation system I've ever seen, while still allowing for amazing variety in the final mechanics of your character.

Visit your FLGS and page through it a bit and see if you like it.

A bit of unsolicited advice on running a superhero game: If your group is larger than two players, have the characters all know each other and be friends/family before the game starts. (good) Superhero stories are for the most part about the split in a person's life between their everyday activities and their superpowered life, and the tension between the two worlds. If the characters didn't share their personal lives with each other BEFORE superpowers, they won't necessarily share them AFTER. I found this out the hard way when I had to plan four different "Home life" events for four players, and had to run them each in order while everyone else waited. It didn't make for a good game session and afterwards I felt the need to sideline personal lives to make the focus about the group.

Besides, if they know one another it's easier to come up with reasons for them all to go on that rocket/to that science exhibit/to the radioactive pits/attend the rock concert that gives them all their powers.

horseboy
2008-03-26, 11:41 PM
Marvel RPG is a unique d100 system. it's all you ever roll. Well, maybe theres a six sided roll hiding somewhere, but it's nearly all percentile.Even better, it's free (http://www.heroplay.com/features/rules/marvel.php). Can't argue with free.

Collin152
2008-03-26, 11:44 PM
Even better, it's free (http://www.heroplay.com/features/rules/marvel.php). Can't argue with free.

Always forget to mention that part.
Yes, Classic Marvel is simple, easy, fun, and absolutely one hundred and sixty eight percent free.

Corsec1337
2008-03-26, 11:58 PM
I wanted to double check before I commented. There was a City of Heroes RPG being made but it looks as if it was discontinued before it was finalized. Just thought you'd be interested to know that.

Ascension
2008-03-26, 11:58 PM
attend the rock concert that gives them all their powers.

Okay, that's it, I need to play a superhero game now just so I can openly brag at every possible opportunity, "I have the power of ROCK!!!"

Oh yes, there will be headbanging.

EDIT: I just read over the classic Marvel rules, and while it's not as customizable as a point-based system and is bound to lead to "Balance, what balance?" issues, I must say I like how you can literally generate everything about your character randomly if you so desire. It doesn't work all that well conceptually for high-tech or robot characters, but for your average mutated or accident-spawned superhero, random rolls actually make a whole lot of sense.

...and I also love how they openly call water-breathing a "wimp power" in the appendix.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-03-27, 01:09 AM
Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition is the greatest thing ever to come out of the d20 license. Simplicity itself - one d20 for everyone, and a single system for modeling everything from vehicles to guns to magic to superpowers to natural abilities. It's wonderfully balanced, too.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-03-27, 02:27 AM
Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition is the greatest thing ever to come out of the d20 license. Simplicity itself - one d20 for everyone, and a single system for modeling everything from vehicles to guns to magic to superpowers to natural abilities. It's wonderfully balanced, too.

Oh, wonderfully balanced indeed; quite beginner-friendly too, IMO.

Jerthanis
2008-03-27, 03:44 AM
Okay, that's it, I need to play a superhero game now just so I can openly brag at every possible opportunity, "I have the power of ROCK!!!"

Oh yes, there will be headbanging.


I kid you not, in the M&M game I ran, the original concept was that the characters would get their powers while attending a Rock Concert. I decided to change this at the last minute as I thought it was too silly a place, and the quaintness of the location would crowd out the powers and situation itself. (For the record it was an "accidental" chemical spill at the site that would trigger latent mutation abilities, not the rock music itself), also, some of the characters weren't really the "Rock and Roll" type.

Bag_of_Holding
2008-03-27, 03:58 AM
Okay, that's it, I need to play a superhero game now just so I can openly brag at every possible opportunity, "I have the power of ROCK!!!"

Only to be defeated by a guy who got his power from a papercut, eh?

Sebastian
2008-03-27, 05:14 AM
EDIT: I just read over the classic Marvel rules, and while it's not as customizable as a point-based system and is bound to lead to "Balance, what balance?" issues, I must say I like how you can literally generate everything about your character randomly if you so desire. It doesn't work all that well conceptually for high-tech or robot characters, but for your average mutated or accident-spawned superhero, random rolls actually make a whole lot of sense.


Agreed, half of the fun in marvel rpg is try to come up with a explanation for the weird random powers you usually come up with. No matter what other says, IMHO a rpg system is not complete without a good casual creation system for PCs. :)

aside from that, I agree with people that suggested M&M, it is a really good, solid, simple system that can be easily adapted to things other from superheroic(even if it still works better for greater-than-life scenarios.

If you are not afraid on math Hero is anothe good choice.

GURPS, I don't know, I like the system, but I've heard it broke down at the superheroic power level, even if maybe they fixed it with 4th edition.

Sebastian
2008-03-27, 05:23 AM
And of course there is a number of more standard D20 based super rpgs (deeds, not words, blood and vigilance, four color to fantasy, etc, but, and this is just IMHO, Classes/levels based games and superheroes don't mix well.

GammaPaladin
2008-03-27, 05:24 AM
Nothing has ever done superhero RPG better than Champions did.

Also, someone made a game called Godlike? Dammit, that's what I was going to call mine if I ever felt like trying to get it published.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-03-27, 05:34 AM
GURPS just seems too cumbersome. If the actual rules didn't take so many hundreds of pages, it'd be my system of choice for Cyberpunk and Sci-Fi, but that's about it.

Champions / HERO may not be a complicated system, but I couldn't get any impression of the rules by skimming the book, unlike with M&M, where the actual rules are expressed very concisely. (Aberrant was way worse. Dozens and dozens of pages of in-world in-character stuff. The superhero genre isn't exactly distant or obscure - where is the game?)

Tyger
2008-03-27, 07:11 AM
Thanks for the suggestions all. I think I'll give Mutants & Masterminds a quick look, and maybe Marvel too. Free is nice after all!

REally appreciate the suggestions. Here's hoping I can talk my guys into it.

Charity
2008-03-27, 08:37 AM
Guess I'm the only one with love for Golden Heros, that was a great lil system, care needed to be taken to produce a balanced party, but I loved the fact the combat rounds were in frames, and it was dead easy to use.

StickMan
2008-03-27, 09:04 AM
Yea for mutants and masterminds fans. I should say that Mutants and Masterminds is extremely balanced but does have some exlplotable features. Such as being able to duplicating yourself a thousand times and using all of those duplicates to blast an enemy. But if your players have any restraint then you should be fine. Plus DM slapping is always fun.

To anyone who is looking for a M&M game I'm starting a play by post over in finding players. Its more of a Hellboy style game than a classic super game but sounds like a few people here are itching and I'm more than willing to take first timers.

Mutants, Masterminds, and Magic. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75850)

Tsotha-lanti
2008-03-27, 09:10 AM
Yea for mutants and masterminds fans. I should say that Mutants and Masterminds is extremely balanced but does have some exlplotable features. Such as being able to duplicating yourself a thousand times and using all of those duplicates to blast an enemy. But if your players have any restraint then you should be fine. Plus DM slapping is always fun.

Luckily, the books pretty much identify all abusable abilities (with sidebars discussing stuff like Duplicate), and often warns about allowing them for PCs, especially at certain levels or with certain feats or extras. It's all about GM control on what's allowed.

Ryver
2008-03-27, 10:47 AM
Wow. I'm surprised nobody mentioned Silver Age Sentinels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Age_Sentinels).

But, I'm going to be the Minority of One here, and toss out a vote for the Marvel Universe RPG (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Universe_Roleplaying_Game) system.

Marvel Comics published it a few years back. They made it through three sourcebooks (Core Rulebook, X-men Guide, Hulk/Avengers Guide) and have since abandoned the project. It's now faded into obscurity.

Before I give a quick overview, I must point out that this system isn't for everyone. YMMV and all that.

It's a diceless, resource-allocation kind of system. Your success is entirely dependant upon how much energy you exert into the action. Combat is rather abstract - it's basically an opposed action between your attack and their defense. Hell, there's not a huge difference between accuracy and damage. That screws with a lot of brains, and it's enough to turn a lot of people off.

Aside from that, it was made by Marvel, not by gaming think-tanks. It lacks organization and polish. The rules are often unclear, seemingly contradictory, or hard to locate. It's a stark change from the clean, neatly-tabled RPGs put out by the mainstream companies (WotC, White Wolf, Steve Jackson, etc).

However, its true strength lies in the fact that it's so incredibly open-ended that literally anything can be created and added. If you have a character concept, it can happen. If you want to add a house rule, you can do it. With a little creativity and practice, you'll be free and clear. As long as the GM and the players agree to it, the game is whatever you want it to be. That's the true spirit of the comics shining through.

There are dozens of pre-made heroes you all know and love, but most people are drawn to the character creation, which is - like everything else - as open-ended as you want it to be. I'm fairly certain somebody made a character once whose power was "Mastery of Pants". Best not to dwell on that one.

The system is best for GMs who are good storytellers, and who like to improvise, create their own content, play loose, and trust their players. Newbie GMs might be overwhelmed. Conventional notions of "balance" and rules-lawyering don't work well here. On that note, min-maxing is a real possibility.

If you're looking for something that's well-structured and laid out, with the rules clearly dictated for every eventuality (ie. Concealment Table for Fighting Underwater at Midnight, Blunt Weapons subsection), this sure as heck isn't it.

Still, it's my favorite system by far. The power level starts out fairly high, and if your GM is a good storyteller, the outcome is amazing.

Emperor Demonking
2008-03-27, 10:59 AM
Minority of 2, murpg is really good and simple in my opinion.

StickMan
2008-03-27, 11:37 AM
Marvel Universe Roleplaying game always had one major flaw for me you could just wear out an opponents to win fights. It always came down to who had the most Energy to allocate and how fast your energy re-gen was.

Ascension
2008-03-27, 01:17 PM
While I haven't read the system, I would like to note that battles in comics are generally battles of attrition, so it's not entirely unreasonable to give victory in all cases to he who can last the longest...

...that being said, I'm really not a fan of diceless systems. I've been in too many freeform games which have gotten out of hand... I like randomizers.

PnP Fan
2008-03-27, 03:17 PM
I'll chip my two copper in for Mutands and Masterminds 2nd edition.
Best game I've ever played.

Just make sure your GM reads the Grey boxes (sidebars about power abuses), and abides by them. Also, keep in mind that, unlike many superhero games, the superpowers are based on game effects not concept effects. My group had lots of problems with this at first. People would buy the Force Field power, for example, thinking that it allowed them to create force fields of any sort, like a Marvel or DC super hero game might. In fact, shapable force fields are more expensive (because it has a game mechanic effect. . . ). Once we got past that life was good. Until we broke our last gm by breaking the grey box guidelines. It was a sad day.

gm_rand
2008-03-27, 03:51 PM
Wow. I'm surprised nobody mentioned Silver Age Sentinels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Age_Sentinels).

I liked the concepts in Silver Age Sentinels but never got around to runing a game. Part was due to never getting the points for power use hammered out and that I really wanted to play it more then run it.

I enjoyed palying Heroes Unlimited but it pretty much keeps you in a box and you can't really expand you powers beyond what they are in the books but I've seen several new books come out for powers for it. Not sure how long it's been since you've played it but they might have some new stuff for you.

Villains and Vigilantes was fun to play but I never got much into the core of the rules as the GM took care of all of that. Plus I think it's been out of print for 10 years or more.

Marvel wasn't bad and I can't remember what part of it I didn't like.

I've thought about trying Champions but the number crunching and spending 3 days just making my character and drawn out combat horror stories I've heard from some people has kept me away.

I've never played Mutants & Masterminds but after all of this I might check it out.

Megafly
2008-03-27, 05:11 PM
Because nobody mentioned it...I loved Marvel SAGA (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12950.phtml)