Superhero RPGs?

[Mordaenor]

Hey all! I was wondering if anyone out there had ever played Silver Age Sentinels, or any other Superhero style RPG, and what your thoughts were. I had the opportunity to play SAS a few years ago, and I loved the character creation system but ran into a bit of a rut. Had to do with me rather than the system, because my entire RPG experience up until then had been D&D and I had trouble operating in a system that didn't revolve around Dungeon Crawling.

[Tengu_temp]

My favorite game of all time is Mutants and Masterminds 2e. Character building can be time-consuming, but the actual system is very fast and offers you incredible freedom, and it's based on D20 so getting used to it is easy for people who only played DND beforehand. The recently released DC Adventures, which is practically M&M 3e, even has stats for canon DC superheroes.

[kyoryu]

If you're going to do a Superhero game, you should at least look at Champions.

[Mordaenor]

Yeah, the SAS game I played was also D20, although I understand there is also a NON-d20 version that was published first, but I haven't had any experience with it.

[Satyr]

Mutants and Masterminds is pretty much the default superhero RPG by now, I guess. The same way that D&D is the default fantasy game in a way - not the only one, but the one that gets the most attention and has the largest fanbase.
This status is also not entirely undeserved. It is a good game, and in many ways it feels more "modern" predecessor to D20 than the actual official predecessor, at least to me.

However, it is not the only one, and the question of the best is pretty much entirely dependent on personal preferences.

Alternatives which comes to mind is Hero, which is about the most complex toolbox of RPGs out there, even more so than Gurps, of course Gurps itself with the Powers and Superheroes expansions, there are official RPgs to both the Marvel and the DC comic universes, perhaps even more than one for each.

[mabriss lethe]

Hey! Don't forget Heroes Unlimit...e...d....Y'know what, forget I said that. M&M is where it's at.

[Hat-Trick]

I play HERO Fifth Revised EDition constantly, but am playing 6th edition here or there.

[Lord Vampyre]

Hey all! I was wondering if anyone out there had ever played Silver Age Sentinels, or any other Superhero style RPG, and what your thoughts were. I had the opportunity to play SAS a few years ago, and I loved the character creation system but ran into a bit of a rut. Had to do with me rather than the system, because my entire RPG experience up until then had been D&D and I had trouble operating in a system that didn't revolve around Dungeon Crawling.

I had the same problem when I first started trying systems other than D&D. D&D tends to teach players to focus on the combat. You hunt down the monsters, gain xp to go up in level, and take their stuff. It really doesn't matter which version of D&D you're playing it boils down to the same thing. Now, many DMs have worked really hard to break that foundation, but the problem is that it is the foundation of the game.

Now, the only Superhero campaign I've played in was using Heroes Unlimited. Once again I went for playing a wizard. Eh, it was ok, but unfortunately I never had the chance to get very far into the campaign.

[big teej]

I've had some experience with "phoenix" the 3rd party super hero expansion for d20 modern

it was A LOT of fun....

any power could be dupilicated within the system, so far, my friends have found.... I think 2 powers that are unaccounted for

one of them was acid for blood, I can't recall the other

but aside from that, everything is accounted for.

[TheEmerged]

*cracks knuckles*

What, this is only my main RPG genre No order implied after the first entry.

1> HERO/Champions. HERO is not an RPG really. It's an RPG creation tool. I've played it for decades, in multiple genres. The good news is, you can build just about anything (exception being absolutes, especially invulnerabilities). The bad news is, you *have* to build just about everything The main gaming world (Champions) has good points and bad points; it's neither the most interesting nor the worst.

Other points of interest.

GURPS. My least favorite campaign world on the list. The superheroic rules and the psionic rules were not well balanced to each other, but it was interesting enough.

The Old Marvel System (otherwise known as FASERIP). Is it perfect? No. Is it workable enough to be enjoyable? Yes.

The Marvel SAGA system. I actually prefer the old one, but this has its charms.

The Old DC System (the nine-stat one). Ignore the equipment rules and it's enjoyable enough.

Aberrant. Interesting world, imperfect system. It was hard to figure out how powerful you actually were without a few test runs. I ended up converting a lot of this into my last HERO campaign.

Alternity. Yes, it had superheroic rules even if it never actually had a superheroic campaign. Was somewhat low-level (or "70's TV superhero" level) but worked.

Brave New World. REALLY interesting world. Probably the worst system on this list. I ended up adapting a lot of this into my last HERO campaign.

[Da Beast]

Adding my voice to those suggesting Mutants and Masterminds. It's a great system with a lot of flexibility that can model a lot of characters.

[Raum]

Hey all! I was wondering if anyone out there had ever played Silver Age Sentinels, or any other Superhero style RPG, and what your thoughts were.

For a grittier / darker supers feel, try Wild Talents!

I had the opportunity to play SAS a few years ago, and I loved the character creation system but ran into a bit of a rut. Had to do with me rather than the system, because my entire RPG experience up until then had been D&D and I had trouble operating in a system that didn't revolve around Dungeon Crawling.

There's a lot more out there for you to try!

[Arbane]

For a very different-feeling game, take a look at Truth and Justice, it's more dramatic than sim, and it manages to make it seem plausible to have a battle with an archvillain that BOTH Superman and Batman can be useful for.

Also, to quote RPGnet, "it lets you punch a superhero in the girlfriend".

[Psyx]

I don't get on with supers games... they break my suspension of disbelief.

I know... it's weird.

Aberrant was quite a fun system, though.

[kkortekaas]

Checkout Godlike and it's modern sequal Wild Talents

Godlike's brief synopsis
At the dawn of World War II, a handful of people called "Talents" manifested strange powers that set them apart from the rest of humanity. With these powers man took to the air without mechanical aid, explored the depths of the sea without life support, and touched the rim of space as well as KICK NAZI ARSE!

It uses the OneRoll Engine which uses a seriers of d10s for everything. It sounds weird and like it won't work, but by golly it's the best representation of Superhero power that I've ever seen.

Wild Talents expands on the history of Godlike and advances the timeline to modern time. It uses a slightly tweaked OneRoll Engine and it's still wonderful.

The guys at ArcDream really know their craft

[dsmiles]

My personal choices would be:

Marvel Superheroes Expert Set for a serious game (Now obsolete, as far as I know).
Heroes Unlimited for a less serious game (Also obsolete, I think).
Champions for a wild Tick-like game (w00t! 15 dice of unluck!)

[Mordaenor]

So out of curiosity, what kind of heros have people built with these various systems. I'll start, my SAS character was effectively a cross between Ben Grimm and Toph (although in my defense I was NOT familiar with Avatar at the time). He was blind Earth Elemental with Earth Bending abilities, limited pretty much only by his skill level and imagination, and of course being made of Earth, those abilities extended to himself as well. Alas, after all the effort I put in to making him a virtual Brick Wall, he got one shotted by a Villain with three times his strength. Oh well.

[dsmiles]

So out of curiosity, what kind of heros have people built with these various systems. I'll start, my SAS character was effectively a cross between Ben Grimm and Toph (although in my defense I was NOT familiar with Avatar at the time). He was blind Earth Elemental with Earth Bending abilities, limited pretty much only by his skill level and imagination, and of course being made of Earth, those abilities extended to himself as well. Alas, after all the effort I put in to making him a virtual Brick Wall, he got one shotted by a Villain with three times his strength. Oh well.

In Marvel Superheroes Expert Set I had a 4-armed earth elemental guy. He could control earth and phase through solid objects.

My Heroes Unlimited character was a bit like the Bionic Commando except with more than just a claw attachment for the nano-fiber wire in his wrists.

My Champions character was The Tick. Yes, the blue one, by Ben Edlund.

[Mordaenor]

Spoooooooooooooonnnn!!!

[dsmiles]

Spoooooooooooooonnnn!!!

Every chance he got...

[big teej]

well, having only played phoenix, I've only created 2-3 characters, and have ideas for a few more

Liam - a terra mancer (earthbending for the latin disinclined) with damage reduction.... and a 44 magnum....

Blacklist - a man with a collossal healing factor, outside of complete dismemberment, he'd get right back up from any punishment he took, had a 'puinisher' mentality, he discovered his powers during a convience store robbery (woke up in a body bag) and has since set out to destroy street thugs and criminals.

Eukanthos - never got around to statting him out, but he would have been able to summon objects (such as weapons) to himself

Templar - think Iron man crossed with a space marine

Frequency - based off of "the wailer" from the ascension war series from vampire: the masquerade, and mage: the ascension did like 30 d6 sonic damage around or so....


all very, very fun to play

[Reverent-One]

Another game system is the Savage Worlds superhero game. I'm in a campaign for that right now and I'm having a lot of fun. It's also easy to get, with the main book costing about $10 (though the very superhero-oriented expasion will cost another $20 if you want that in addition to the options in the core book).

[Balain]

I'm currently playing an alter fusion, superheroes campaign. Superheroes campaigns can be very fun. My Character Is an ex-baseball player called The Bat. His arch enemy is another superhero also called The Bat, who is like Batman.

[Mordaenor]

I'm currently playing an alter fusion, superheroes campaign. Superheroes campaigns can be very fun. My Character Is an ex-baseball player called The Bat. His arch enemy is another superhero also called The Bat, who is like Batman.

Hehehe, I can just imagine the two getting into a Legal Battle of copyright laws.

[Beleriphon]

I'm going to through this out: DC Adventures, the Mutants and Masterminds Third Edition powered official DC roleplaying game. The game is identical to as yet unreleased soft cover M&M3 rule book, but with DC references sprinkled through out. And it has stats for 14 heroes and 14 villians (Joker and Batman are included, as are Lex Luthor and Superman), so there's a bonus if you like DC stuff.

I'd honestly suggest M&M, either second edition or the new third edition, if only because they really are the best damn superhero games ever. I've seen a few, and all have their charms, but none of them for me ever quite got enough of the feel right.

[Sir_Elderberry]

In M&M I built a physicist character (it was the kind of campaign that was unserious enough that playing "yourself, but awesome" was ok). He had perfect time sense, perfect distance sense, could see the entire EM spectrum down to atomic scales, max ranks in Knowledge (Physical Sciences), and then I gave him Gravity Control, Electrical Control, Magnetic Control, and Radiation Control, figuring that covered your four fundamental forces.

[Beleriphon]

In M&M I built a physicist character (it was the kind of campaign that was unserious enough that playing "yourself, but awesome" was ok). He had perfect time sense, perfect distance sense, could see the entire EM spectrum down to atomic scales, max ranks in Knowledge (Physical Sciences), and then I gave him Gravity Control, Electrical Control, Magnetic Control, and Radiation Control, figuring that covered your four fundamental forces.

So you built Super Einstein? Did you stunt stuff using string theory to create wormholes to teleport? Because that would be totally awesome.

[Malfunctioned]

I will fully recommend M&M 2E.

But I would also fully disregard Chimaera completely and utterly.
Just don't even bother buying it.

[Tyrmatt]

Hmm...all this talk of M&M makes me want to have my AFMBE group devoured...

I think I'd have to stat out my old CoH character for this. The concept was that he was a teen windrider with moderate super-strength and a connection to some vague goddess who was the source of his powers. He was to be teamed with a girl whose name was meant to be Valkyrie and was essentially the current mortal champion for Thor.

To the RPG Shop!

[Knaight]

For a grittier / darker supers feel, try Wild Talents!

This also fufills the brilliant system niche. Its part of the One Roll Engine family of games, and the ORE system is one of the most elegant sets of mechanics ever put to paper. Nemesis is the free system of the family, and worth looking at.