What super hero role-playing games can I use to create a rpg hack of a public domain golden age comic book series?

Mutants & Masterminds? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with all the superhero games out there. But M&M is OGL!

Someone can correct me if I am wrong (which they really enjoy doing!), but I'd think most Golden Age superheroes are more like old school detectives with a few pseudo-supernatural elements; The Phantom, Shadow, etc. Superman couldn't even fly back then, and certainly wasn't throwing planets around like he did in the Silver Age; Batman used a gun. Power levels were just a lot more subdued.

That said, MEGS and FASERIP are both appropriate for this sort of thing. MEGS would have a lot of clustering around the 2-3 for attributes, with exceptional heroes maybe getting into 5-6 range, possibly 8-9 for super badasses (I imagine The Phantom has an 8 or 8 DEX and probably max human STR, or even 6). FASERIP handles human-level characteristics with a bit more granularity, so it might be a better fit depending on what you have in mind.

You could always use the old GURPS Cliffhangers, honestly. Or even TLG's Amazing Adventures which is strictly human-level with magic and supernatural stuff as possible add-ons.

Quote from: Brad on October 11, 2023, 03:53:09 PM
Someone can correct me if I am wrong (which they really enjoy doing!), but I'd think most Golden Age superheroes are more like old school detectives with a few pseudo-supernatural elements; The Phantom, Shadow, etc. Superman couldn't even fly back then, and certainly wasn't throwing planets around like he did in the Silver Age; Batman used a gun. Power levels were just a lot more subdued.

That said, MEGS and FASERIP are both appropriate for this sort of thing. MEGS would have a lot of clustering around the 2-3 for attributes, with exceptional heroes maybe getting into 5-6 range, possibly 8-9 for super badasses (I imagine The Phantom has an 8 or 8 DEX and probably max human STR, or even 6). FASERIP handles human-level characteristics with a bit more granularity, so it might be a better fit depending on what you have in mind.

You could always use the old GURPS Cliffhangers, honestly. Or even TLG's Amazing Adventures which is strictly human-level with magic and supernatural stuff as possible add-ons.

Cool,man,i think i should use FASERIP AND MEGS!,i have one question:what is a hack of a public domain golden age super hero comic book series?

Austin McConnell on youtube released a Catman animated short where Catman is literally a private investigator with cat-themed superpowers. If you want inspiration...

Quote from: Ratguy on October 11, 2023, 12:51:13 PM
What super hero role-playing games can I use to create a rpg hack of a public domain golden age comic book series?

All of them if you just need game rules.

Quote from: Ratguy on October 11, 2023, 12:51:13 PM
What super hero role-playing games can I use to create a rpg hack of a public domain golden age comic book series?

I'll say Destined can be a good fit. It's Mythras based and relatively low powered for a supes game (breaking planets in half is out of scope; breaking tanks in half is not easy but possible), and on the plus side it has a pretty decent list of ready made powers to choose from.
It could handle golden age adventures pretty easily.

Quote from: Ratguy on October 11, 2023, 04:18:36 PM... i have one question:what is a hack of a public domain golden age super hero comic book series?

I had to laugh when I saw your user name.  City of Rats would be the name of the game that I would pitch.  Imagine a crime ridden and dirty city where the rats walk on two and four legs.  All the game examples in the rules would feature Ratguy doing this or that.  :-D

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 11, 2023, 08:15:00 PM
Austin McConnell on youtube released a Catman animated short where Catman is literally a private investigator with cat-themed superpowers. If you want inspiration...

I was going to suggest Austin McConnell myself.  He discusses a bunch of Golden Age heroes on his channel, my favorite being "Six-Gun Gorilla."  (And yes, just as the title implies, it's about a gunslinging gorilla in the Wild West).  I would think "Justice, Inc." would be a good game with which to replicate these old low-powered Golden Age characters.

FASERIP would be perfect.

I used to play Villains & Vigilantes a lot back in the day and it was always one of my favorite super hero games.  There was a bit of math to be done during chargen however.

B/X Gangbusters by Mark Hunt also has rules for superheroes in it.  Very early superheroes from the 20's & 30's.  So it might be right up your alley.

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on October 12, 2023, 01:25:05 PM
I used to play Villains & Vigilantes a lot back in the day and it was always one of my favorite super hero games.  There was a bit of math to be done during chargen however.

B/X Gangbusters also has rules for superheroes in it.  Very early superheroes from the 20's & 30's.  So it might be right up your alley.

Cool,man,I think I should use dc adventures and mutants and masterminds 3rd edition!,thanks.

FASERIP is *always* a good choice for Supers of any scale or era.

For Golden Age pulp stuff, Savage Worlds is perfect for it. I'd even argue you could go with their Core Rules alone and do all the Golden Age stuff fairly natively. It happens their Super Powers Companion is available and it scales up from Golden Age stuff  to insane Cosmic Supers.

But I'd always go FASERIP (with modification) first and always.