Hey, everyone. It looks like my Hellfrost campaign will be wrapping up in the next six months or so and I've been looking at the possibility of doing a Heroes-esque supers game. Basically, I'm thinking of something a bit more real-world where people have no more than one or two powers at most. I'm planning on using Mutants and Masterminds but most of the settings I know are distinctly four color affairs. I do plan on checking out the Paragons book for 2nd edition M&M, but even that is more of a toolkit rather than a fleshed-out setting like Emerald City or Stark City.

So does anyone know of anything else? Supers is one of the genres I have little familiarity with when it comes to gaming, so I'm hoping there's some good options I just don't know about.

Maybe Hudson City from "Dark" Champions? Not my cup of tea but sound like it might be yours.

There is AMP: Year One

Quote from: Matt;827818Maybe Hudson City from "Dark" Champions? Not my cup of tea but sound like it might be yours.

Interesting. I'll have to look closely at this one. It looks like it's actually fairly reasonably priced on Amazon, and from the first review I found it sounds pretty good. The only downside is the massively overpowered GMPC at the center of it all, but hopefully he's not too essential to the setting.

Quote from: Certified;827823There is AMP: Year One

I'd actually heard about AMP when Year Two was announced but what little I saw made it seem like a typical four color setting. Taking a closer look, it seems like the tone might be more in line with what I'm looking for. Are there any locations detailed in the book or is it more of a setting outline/overview?

Its out of print but GoO's Authority RPG might fit the bill.

Mayfair's old Underground game strikes me as pretty gritty. Darkly humorous as well. Most things for it are still for sale as PDFs. It has some interesting mechanics for dealing with a hero's impact on his community and the setting reminds me a bit of Judge Dredd and Hard Boiled.

Godlike and Wild Talents seemed darker/grittier to me as well.

I always liked the Mayfair DC Heroes system's mechanics.  From what I understand, Blood of Heroes uses the same mechanics, but without the licensed characters.  I haven't purchased the book yet, but will soon based on that assumption.  I always felt that this system was flexible enough that the GM could put whatever spin on the setting he wanted.  I intend, after the new 1e AD&D session we're about to start tomorrow winds down, to start a BoH campaign.  I suggested to the players that we make it a setting almost exactly like the one you're proposing, and I'm sure we could do it with those rules.  But if they'd prefer to go less gritty and more silver/bronze age, they'd allow for that, too.

The Wild Cards setting, in which GURPS was licensed to do a couple books.

Quote from: Ravenswing;828202The Wild Cards setting, in which GURPS was licensed to do a couple books.

And which got its start as a Superworld campaign.

I've meant to check out Wild Cards several times but it seems like something always gets in the way. About all I know is that it's an alt-history world and that Fidel Castro played baseball instead of taking control of Cuba. Oh, and since George R.R. Martin wrote part of it I assumed the streets were littered with corpses.  I may read it after Paragons.

I actually played in a (very) short-lived Wild Talents game. While I'm apathetic toward ORE, I actually don't know anything about the world other than people with powers started appearing around WWII. I may do a little digging on that setting, too.

There's Extreme Earth, which is available for about 8 or more different systems

Quote from: urbwar;828961There's Extreme Earth, which is available for about 8 or more different systems

I was going to suggest the same.

Not sure if it ranks as a supers setting since it's pitched as "superhuman scifi-noir" but the Broken Shield RPG seems to take a rather gritty approach. It is apparently based off a series of novels.

Quote from: Brand55;827828Interesting. I'll have to look closely at this one. It looks like it's actually fairly reasonably priced on Amazon, and from the first review I found it sounds pretty good. The only downside is the massively overpowered GMPC at the center of it all, but hopefully he's not too essential to the setting.

The Harbinger of Justice? No, he's not essential at all. I use the setting pretty frequently and he never comes up. The setting is geared towards "Street Level" supers like Daredevil, Punisher, The "Bat Family" and early Spiderman but has advice for adding more powers and could be useful for a Heroes/Mutant X style People with Powers game. I'm starting a similar game myself using that setting soon in fact.

You may also want to take a look at White Wolf's Aberrant or the Cold Steel Wardens RPG (I'm not sure of the publisher)

Also of interest may be the upcoming Sleeper RPG, which was recently funded through Kickstarter.

Link to publisher:
http://deathspiral.co.uk/

If you're already considering 2nd edition M&M, you should look at the Wild Cards supplement for that system. It's significantly better than the GURPS supplement and could easily tie in with the Paragon's sourcebook.

http://www.amazon.com/Mutants-Masterminds-Rpg-Wild-Cards/dp/1934547115

Quote from: Brand55;828208I've meant to check out Wild Cards several times but it seems like something always gets in the way. About all I know is that it's an alt-history world and that Fidel Castro played baseball instead of taking control of Cuba. Oh, and since George R.R. Martin wrote part of it I assumed the streets were littered with corpses.  I may read it after Paragons.

I actually played in a (very) short-lived Wild Talents game. While I'm apathetic toward ORE, I actually don't know anything about the world other than people with powers started appearing around WWII. I may do a little digging on that setting, too.