Itching to run a superhero game

[Zace66]

I would really love to run a super hero game for my group of gamers. We've been RPing since the late 70's and have seen so many systems come and go. But one thing we havent really touched upon is superhero gaming.

I remember Golden Heroes (I ran that when it came out), and I have Villains and vigilantes ((Played that many many years ago too), some where I have Champions (I think), but is there a newer slicker system.

Ive seen Mutants and masterminds, but not too sure about it as some of the group still don't really like the d20 system, where as others in the group are feat miners extraordinaire.

So any advice is gratefully received as to your SH gaming experiences.

Thanks.

[Dhavaer]

Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed is a wonderful system. It doesn't have all that much in common with the base d20 system; quite a lot of the resemblances are superficial.

[Salt_Crow]

While it would really depend on why the people don't like d20 system as a whole, but M&M2e is a real gem if you want to play a superhero game :)

[raitalin]

I've played Champions (the Hero System), Heroes Unlimited, The TSR Marvel Super-heroes game and Mutants and Masterminds.

Heroes Unlimited is ugly, clunky, unbalanced and min/max friendly. Character creations takes hours. Next.

The TSR Marvel SH game is a good loose framework that lets you accomplish just about anything with your powers without resorting to a ton of rules, but is hard to find now and rather simplistic.

Champions is super-crunchy, providing rules for just about every situation and allowing a large amount of customization in your heroes abilities and powers. Can be rules heavy and slow-moving with unfamiliar players if you let yourself get bogged down. An excellent system though, all-in-all.

I find Mutants and Masterminds gets the best of all worlds. It allows for a great deal of customization, encourages seat-of-your-pants thinking, and keeps combat moving quickly and cinematically.

I think Super games are best run with rules-light systems, as traditional physics are largely irrelevant in comics and take a back seat to making encounters fast-paced and dynamic.

I second M&M, you're players might even warm up to d20 through it.

[Dogmantra]

You could always play Risus, with the funky dice rules (and my simple fix [add one point to the costs for dice for each die. 4d6 would cost 24 + 4 points])

M&M would probably be better, from what I've heard, but Risus is free!
Unless M&M is too, in which case, someone had better send me a link right now.

[Dhavaer]

Unless M&M is too, in which case, someone had better send me a link right now.

It's not, unfortunately. But it is well worth the money.

[Aik]

There's Capes, which is one of the old-guard of hippie indie gaming. If you're fine with it being GMless it's probably work looking into (there's a free 'lite' version to get the basics).

I've been GMing/playing in (rotating GMs for each different story arc) a really good superheroes game using The Pool, which is a free ultra-light system. It complements the genre quite well, I think. Tying superheroes down to statistics isn't that appealing - it doesn't allow for truly powerful characters to work along with 'weaker' characters (for instance - think the early Excalibur comics with Kitty Pryde fighting alongside Phoenix - Phoenix can destroy stars with her power - all Kitty can do is walk through walls. If you statted them out and played it in a traditional type system, Kitty would be completely useless in combat - but it never works like that in the actual comic).

Please note that I haven't actually played any of the systems everyone is mentioning, so I might actually be completely wrong about all that :)

[Drascin]

I'm going to echo M&M 2e. It's a nice game, allowing for most hero concepts with astonishing ease.

[Zace66]

Well in my d20 collection I do indeed have M&M 2nd edition. But now there are Soooo many splat books out there.

Would you recommend any of them or just keep it to the single main rulebook?

(If I did run it - I think i would like to start off with something like the x-men Xavier institute idea to gradually bring the new heroes up to speed with their abilities)

[TerrickTerran]

Ultimate Power is the only other book you really need for MNM. Hard to get but a pocket guide is coming out soon for it.

[Kurald Galain]

Just to throw in a different idea, I rather like Aberrant.

Although you can't go wrong with a refluffed Exalted either.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Ultimate Power is the only other book you really need for MNM. Hard to get but a pocket guide is coming out soon for it.

The other books are only really useful if you don't want to create your own setting, and want to use the ready-made one. All the general information can be acquired simply by reading comics.

Edit: Oh, and the Mastermind's Manual may be nice, but is absolutely definitely not even nearly necessary.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Judging by the game I was in on Thursday, 4th Edition D&D turns out to reflavor well as a Superhero system.

Now, I would obviously encourage you to try out any of the actual Superhero systems out there first, but if someone you know has some 4E books floating around, it might not be bad to try for a one-shot. It is a very clean system.

Rough Guide to Reflavoring

Spoiler

Show

(1) Remove most equipment and magical items - convert them into permanent bonuses to a character, that increase with level. There are a couple of "low magic" 4E threads in Homebrew which provide interesting ways to do this.

(2) Superpowers & Gadgets become Powers - which can be used At-Will (so, all day), Encounter (roughly once per scene), or Daily (once per day). Look through the various classes and see which ones match a particular superhero archetype; they are all helpfully labeled by archetype too.

For example, I played a two-gun "blaster" Hero named "The Spaniard." He had two Guns of his Father (refluffed Long Bows) and all his Trick Shots were refluffed Ranger Powers.

(3) Take the Races and instead make them another "class feature." So a particularly nimble Hero might have Elf or Halfling bonuses, while a particularly Tanky Hero might have Dwarven abilities.

(4) Advancement is as normal. You can upgrade "gear" (like my Guns of my Father) using Magic Item rules, and also introduce special swappable gear that fashion. Feats work as normal too.

I only mention it because I had a great time playing it, as did the rest of the table (who were all 4E skeptics). But yeah, adapting the system will take more time than using a real Superhero RPG.

[feghoot]

You can google Classic Marvel and find it pretty quickly, or you could hunt for it on ebay.

I've heard good things about Necessary Evil, wherein you play super villians trying to save the world after all the heroes have been killed by aliens. It's just been rereleased and will cost you about $20, however you'll also need savage worlds core book which will run you another 10.

[Count Chumleigh]

Even though it's not technically a superhero game, Necessary Evil is a wonderful product. And all it takes to make Necessary Evil into a superhero game is to drop the default storyarc (which is pretty meh to begin with) and change all references from "supervillains" to "superheroes."

Another non-d20 superhero-y game is Adventure! (yes, the exclamation point is required). It's set in the same general universe as Aberrant, but styles itself after the pulp serials of the 20s, 30s, and 40s rather than traditional superhero comics. But if you want to play a Batman-type character--or have a whole team of them--you can't do much better. Just be sure to get the original version; the d20 version that got made later is bad enough to give you cancer.

Cheers,
--Count Chumleigh