Well do you? and do you play superhero RPG's?


This isn't "which game is best" we all of have our favorites, this is just a general thoughtful musing on gaming in general as a preference.


I definatly do, enough that I've written one (Hearts and Souls), playtested two (SAS, M&M2E), and have several others I enjoy (Truth and Justice, Marvel Superheroes)

Yeah, I do.  I don't read 'em (never wanted to get addicted to that kinda crack) but I sure as hell play 'em when i get a chance.
 
For about 10-12 years my system du jour was Champions.  Now it's M&M.  Good stuff.
 
-SJ

I love SHRPGs, but then, I've pretty much always been a comic book reader, so that's no surprise.

In high school and college, I ran a Champions campaign off-and-on for four years, spanning from 2nd to 3rd edition before burning out on the system.  Ran two Marvel Super Heroes campaigns later in college.  In more recent years Villains & Vigilantes and DC Heroes have become my systems of choice for superhero games.

I like the idea of superheroes and what they do with their power, but I prefer grittier characters to Superman.

I don't play Superhero RPGs, per se, but I am still hoping to one day continue my Trinity campaign that ends with Adventure! and Aberrant characters open to play. Also, in a way, heroic RPGs like D&D come close to being a superhero RPG in their own right.

Yes, but I prefer to play The Authority, The Ten-Seconders, Zenith, Planetary or Ultimates style games than pure old school heroism types.

I used to very much, kinda grew out of it (I thought), and movies like Spiderman and Xmen have brought the interest out of storage and dusted it off. I'd love to play a game of M&M, and even City of Heroes if I ever actually upgrade my computer.

I like reading supers comics (I'm following some of the Spider-Man, X-men, FF, and Avengers ones as well as reading occasional others), and I'd love to play in a well-run supers game. I don't think I could run one myself though.

Quote from: DackeI like reading supers comics (I'm following some of the Spider-Man, X-men, FF, and Avengers ones as well as reading occasional others), and I'd love to play in a well-run supers game. I don't think I could run one myself though.

I get that from people a lot (being that I wrote a game) I think a lot of it boils down to two simple things a) make sure the bad guy does cool things at first. and b) let the heroes do cooler things to win.  

3) A lot of it is hitting the heroes where it hurts--despite their powers/abilities, heroes are supposed to have lives/normal background things that turn up ("normal" varies--even Wolvering the ultimate so called "loner" has had girlfriends turn up to make his life interesting, and their brothers, and so on. )

I think anyone can run a superhero game, but like anything it does get better if you practice.


Sigmund: Since I am 99% of the time a supers GM not a supers player I play COX from time to time, its decent and I have fun--many of my friends played and burned themselves out--no its not as good as tabletop gaming, but then when you know that going in, it can be fun as its own thing. I vastly prefer tabletop, because despite its glits it lacks a lot of connection to the mundane aspects of hero life (no secret id, no mundane people connections/jobs etc.) so little dual identity conflict. and that means its more about fighting bad guys--while not BAD at that, its easy for that to grow stale.

I've played SHRGs before and am in the midst of playing one now. I remember playing the Marvel SHRG way back in the. Played Champions as well. Right now, I'm a player in a Silver Age Sentinels game. Pretty fun stuff.

I also have a background as a comic book reader, but haven't been a collector since university. Some how, there were always other things to blow my money on. Then, when I had money in my pocket again, comic books were just way too expensive.

I love superhero RPG's. It's the genre I think I am really comfortable with, and the one genre in hich I think I am an awesome GM.

Not for me.  I mean you could argue Buffy as a superhero RPG, or Exalted as "Supers in Fantasy", but regular ol' spandex and cheesy names stopping the evil death ray from melting Metropolis?  No thanks, I don't think I could take it at all seriously.

Not that I wouldn't give it a try.  If someone was like "Hey Maddman, wanna try M&M or SAS?" I'd give it a go.  Might have fun.  But it's not really my thing.

As a reader, I find the superhero genre to be somewhat tired, in a kind of arrested development. It was always a simplistic, limited genre, but a lot of fun. As I get older, there seem to be fewer and fewer titles that have the abillity to overcome my inner critic.

However, the same limitations that make superhero stories somewhat old as art serve to help when playing a game (and where strong genre conventions help give the game a direction). I've had a blast GMing and playing superhero role playing, with Champions (1st ed.) and Marvel Super Heroes (1st ed.) being the systems that date the times I was actively playing in such games.

Quote from: willpaxAs a reader, I find the superhero genre to be somewhat tired, in a kind of arrested development.
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Have you tried reading any of say,  Planetary, Astro City, Top Ten, etc?

While they are grounded in superhero backdrops--are quite distinct from the usual suspects.

Been meaning to check out Astro City.

Part of the problem is that I've been doing an interdisciplinary class in Super Heroes, so I've been a bit immersed in the whole history of the genre and its traditional formulas. I probably just need some time off.

Yup.  Played one campaign of "Champions" a few years back and really liked it.  My current group has quite a few people (including my wife) who wouldn't touch supers, and it's no one's favorite, so we haven't bothered in quite some time.