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.
Some of my current players don't particularly like super hero role playing (they've read too much old DC comics and think it's kinda silly), so the last time I actually played was the old Marvel Super Heroes.
From the current crop, M&M looks particularly tasty, I might sneak that upon my group in the guise of another genre. I've still got Godlike laying around, which doesn't look half bad. Certainly not four-color stuff...
I still got quite a few supplements for Underground. Rather strange, but decent rules and the background is quite interesting. Sadly all the pictures are a little bit over the top, so it might be hard setting the right mood.
One thing I forgot to mention that I like about FASERIP is the separate stat that's for Fighting rather than having a character's combat prowess based on either Strength or Dexterity/Agility; the latter being a particularly notorious stat that is overpowered in many games.
Quote from: MoriartyOne thing I forgot to mention that I like about FASERIP is the separate stat that's for Fighting rather than having a character's combat prowess based on either Strength or Dexterity/Agility; the latter being a particularly notorious stat that is overpowered in many games.
Yeah, I liked that myself. Could be a great fighter without godly strength and agility. On the other hand I didn't go that route in Hearts & Souls because quite a few comic characters rely on innate strengh (Hulk, Thing), or Agility (Daredevil, Nightcrawler) to fight as I percieve it from reading comics--they're not "the best" but they're capable because of those traits. Of course H&S doesn't care, a person could use ANY trait for combat if they really want to--skill, raw talent, being tatically smarter than ones opponant (Julian from Amber IIRC)
I am unsatisfied with any and every Supers RPG. The closest I have found to how I envision supers ought to be played is Truth And Justice.
That said, at the moment I'm actually RUNNING a superhero campaign (Legion of Superheros). I'm using the D20 Star Wars rules as the engine for the basic system itself, and most of the powers come from Silver Age Sentinels D20. It works very well, but only for something like the Legion. It wouldn't really work, for example, with the Justice League.
RPGPundit
Quote from: SosthenesSome of my current players don't particularly like super hero role playing (they've read too much old DC comics and think it's kinda silly), so the last time I actually played was the old Marvel Super Heroes.
I had the same experience with some players who had no problem playing jedis in Star Wars, angsty vampires, high level D&D characters and 23rdLetter psychics but refused to play superhero games....
....so I did a bait and switch and they loved it...
My favorite SHRPG for long-term campaigns is MEGS/DC Heroes. However, for quick one-shots and pick-up games, V&V is my choice for fast and furious fun.
I don't much go for traditional superhero games, never been a comic reader. So the whole spandex outfits and cheesy names thing kind of leaves me uninspired. Though two of my favorite current games are really supers with other trapping: Buffy and Exalted. They dress it up in the garb of horror and fantasy but at their core are about super-powered people living in a mortal world and what they decide to do with that power.
Quote from: S. John RossAs a player, I like Champions/Hero, provided the GM handles all the rulesy bits. And builds my character for me. And wipes my nose :)
So true, at least for the first few times you play it.
The only supers games that made me want to play supers are Hearts & Souls and Truth and Justice, both in somewhat different ways.
-clash
For years, I always thought that Chaosium's SuperWorld was the one and only superhero RPG for me. Then I got around to realising that, while I spent years creating characters, I never managed to get a campaign off the ground past the first session. I looked at other games, too, many of which allowed the versatility to recreate the sort of characters I'd read from comic books, but they failed to capture the actual flavor of superheroics in play.
Then I came across Bruce Ferrie's superhero rules for HeroQuest and everything seemed to just fall in place. Just like in the comics, relative power levels are all hand-wavey and can be interpreted fast and furiously in accordance with the needs of the adventure. Despite my great enthusiasm for the forthcoming Wild Talents (which owes greatly to SuperWorld, in fact), I have to confess that light and breezy seems to be the way to run superheroics for me.
!i!