So, what's your game o' choice for running/playing Supers games, and why?

Me, as a Palladium fanboy, I used Heroes Unlimited 2e elements in a lot of my Rifts games, and do some crossover stuff there, but my two main picks nowadays are either still FASERIP or Truth & Justice.  FASERIP because the system came very close to emulating what I loved about comics and superheroes, and Truth & Justice because not only is it an heir of sorts to that FASERIP vibe, but Chad U's writing and understanding of the supers genre is absolutely excellent.

I've also got HinterWelt's Supers, Inc. on my post-Gen Con to read/review list.  Your picks?

Quote from: Zachary The FirstSo, what's your game o' choice for running/playing Supers games, and why?

DC Heroes/MEGS remains my favorite system for supers.

The exponential/benchmark system is the best I have seen for quickly eyeballing supers level effects, and handles traditional high powers supers with relative ease. The powers are not to complicated to assemble -- they are straightforward enough to be used out of the box, and provide you a degree of freedom to represent more specific effects.

I do like the HERO system for its flexibility in representing anything, but find that some players just don't grok the power system. When I do use it, I prefer it for the lower end of the power scale.

Mutants & Masterminds is also a decent system, but due to the benchmark system of MEGS, it will always play second fiddle to it in my book.

For any kind of long-term serious play, I'd probably still go with DC Heroes, myself. I think it hits most things just about perfectly.

Second-runner up might go to BESM 2nd Edition, but there I enjoy chargen more than combat, which is what keeps DC Heroes on top.

For pick-up superhero games at cons or shops, always Risus, because I can let players create their own characters even if we've only just met and the game starts in five minutes. Can't do that with DCH or BESM2.

As a player, I like Champions/Hero, provided the GM handles all the rulesy bits. And builds my character for me. And wipes my nose

FASERIP, baby!

Or Fudge.

Something about being able to have strength that's Unearthly or Legendary instead of a number just screams "Supers!" to me.

In the day, we used V&V a lot, but, although I've had lots of fun with it, I'll likely never use it again. I got M&M2e earlier this summer and I am going to use that next.

Aberrant sans background (yuck) works pretty well for Authority style games.  Otherwise you can't beat old Marvel Super Heroes.

I've never found a system I've liked I'm afraid, though I keep on meaning to pick up Truth and Justice

Heh... I must be the mutant in the audience. I'm Champions all the way, with a skeleton in the closet love for Heroes Unlimited and Aberrant (again without the background story).

To be honest I hated FASERIP from teh very first time I saw it, way back before any of the others. DC Heros, the late comer to my bookshelf was only marginally better.

Yup. Champions. Then again, my Mutant Mathmatics ability gives me a slight advantage...:cool:

While I like the glamour of the Mutants & Masterminds books, my all time favorite game would have to be FASERIP hands-down. It plays extremely fast and you don't have to play around with a lot of numbers - just the way a superhero game should be.

The only superhero game I can be bothered with is V&V. I'm not sure why, except that it has a flavour I like.

Well I wrote my own, Heart & Souls, which does everything I like--that is very broad strokes, no real numbers or number crunching (mostly), and flexible system where success is based on willingness to risk/push your character using their drive (Why are YOU a superhero?)
 
Second runner up would be a tie between MSH (Faserip), and Marvel Saga (yes I liked both of them for different reasons they actually addressed Marvel comic style play for the era they were written within.)


Third runner up is Truth & Justice, very fun and flexible.

i'm a V&V, Golden Heroes/Squadron UK, FASERIP kinda guy myself.

What is FASERIP?

DC Heroes, for the reasons posted by others before me. Also, because it was specifically tuned to run games that feel like issues of comic books (rules for subplots and complications, 'experience points' which allow long-term growth or immediate gratification, and stats which are specific enough to differentiate between characters but abstract enough to avoid fanboy nit-pickery). A fine game all around.

Quote from: SigmundWhat is FASERIP?

FASERIP is the nickname for the system that TSR's mid-80's RPG Marvel Super Heroes used.  Its an acronym for the character stats that are:

Fighting
Agility
Strength
Endurance
Reason
Intuition
Psyche

The levels of the stats are labled and numbered, meaning you would have a Fighting score of Amazing(50) that is higher than Incredible(40) and lower than Monstrous(75).  The resolution mechanic is percentile with stats, attack type and die-roll cross checked with a one-page matrix found on the book's back cover.  It's actually pretty streamlined and supports various scales of super powers -- from Daredevil to Silver Surfer -- pretty well.

TSR tried to implement the matrix method with versions of Star Frontiers and Gamma World, neither of which took off.  D&D was the first RPG I ever got, but FASERIP/Marvel Super Heroes was the system my friends and I loved and played almost every day.