It would seem to me the big problem for comic book RPGs is the team problem, mechanically it is difficult to balance characters from published media; Batman in Batman comics must be portrayed differently from Batman in Justice League comics simply because he has to hold his own with the Martian Manhunter and Superman. M&M would have been a more interesting choice, if only because you could finally have the DC/Marvel matchups everyone wants to be able to play.

Quote from: Toran Ironfinder on June 07, 2021, 02:45:23 AM
It would seem to me the big problem for comic book RPGs is the team problem, mechanically it is difficult to balance characters from published media; Batman in Batman comics must be portrayed differently from Batman in Justice League comics simply because he has to hold his own with the Martian Manhunter and Superman.

That's an interesting theoretical question, but it doesn't seem to be a real problem, because it's not something people complain about when it comes to actual games.

Wendy's was the test case.

Marvel Entertainment is the demonstration.

And everyone in the RPG business who is currently publishing or seeking to publish licensed IP should be paying rapt attention.

IP holders have learned that it is no longer necessary to license out their IP to a third-party RPG publisher. They can produce an RPG in house by using freelance talent.

This is potentially a major shift in the RPG industry.

Quote from: amacris on June 07, 2021, 02:02:10 AM
Also, you should all play Ascendant. It's the best superhero RPG in the universe.

BOLD CLAIMS...

Quotethe all-new D616 System, an accessible and easy-to-learn system for newcomers to tabletop RPGs and a natural evolution for those familiar with the most popular tabletop role-playing games on the market.

That sends up some red flags to me.  It sounds like it may just be a modified D&D5E system and not something more fitting for a supers game.

As for the Cortex version of MHR not having character creation, that's not true.  Page 110 of the core book gives you the rules for making characters of your own.  There aren't HERO levels of detail and options and you may not like them, but they are there.  I've had players make a few dozen unique heroes for the game.

Threads like this remind me of just what a wonderful system FASRiP was.

We need an OSR FASRiP Superhero RPG.

Quote from: Torque2100 on June 07, 2021, 11:07:43 AM
Threads like this remind me of just what a wonderful system FASRiP was.

We need an OSR FASRiP Superhero RPG.

There are a couple.

Phil Reed made 4c, but I recommend against supporting the game. It was a very early case of crowd-funding, long before Kickstarter. Reed raised the money, then got a job at SJG, and basically said fuck off I have a real job to the backers, and didn't get around to releasing the game for years.

Blacky the Blackball (the guy who made the Dark Dungeons clone of the Rules Cyclopedia) also made one called FASERIP. It's not a pure clone, though I haven't looked it over to see what changes have been made.

Quote from: Torque2100 on June 07, 2021, 11:07:43 AM
Threads like this remind me of just what a wonderful system FASRiP was.

We need an OSR FASRiP Superhero RPG.

There is already a really good retro-clone: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/177913/Faserip

You can get it for free on DrivethruRPG and it is available in hardcopy.  I have 2 hardcopies.  The changes are fairly minimal, just fixing some of the shortcomings of the original system.  The biggest thing is they had to change the names of the power ranks but it is still so similar it is really simple.  You can get away with just using the original names for the power ranks from the TSR game if you like.

Images of the power ranks table and the ranks themselves are below:

https://ibb.co/5v9PJLc

https://ibb.co/t2RjJtT

D616?

Wassat? A D6 and 3D6 -2 (D16)? Maybe the 3D6 -2 is for general rolls and the D6 is a wild die thing.

Time will tell. Hopefully it won't turn into something like Cortex. Wanted to like it but couldn't bring myself to enjoy it no matter how much I played. The killer for the system for me is I never felt like I wanted to run it.

It looked great though, with superb layout and Marvel art.

To me, thing is, I know i can FASERIP with ultimate powers book and random character generation and come out with an incorporeal version of groot with super surgery powers that let me literally rip a villains head off and attach it to their ass...i don't see how they can hope to top that shit.

Quote from: amacris on June 07, 2021, 02:02:10 AM
Also, you should all play Ascendant. It's the best superhero RPG in the universe.

That's a bit tricky when it hasn't been commercially released yet. Or have I missed something?

I'm wondering if 616 won't use 3d6? If I remember it in 2022 I'll check it out.

Quote from: amacris on June 07, 2021, 02:02:10 AM
Also, you should all play Ascendant. It's the best superhero RPG in the universe.

I'll bite. It looks very MEGS inspired, but possibly more complex. What would benefit me from learning Ascendant rather than DCH/BoH?

(Since we don't know anything really about the Marvel game until next year)

I'm never averse to looking at a new RPG system and seeing if it works better than one I'm using now or has ideas that I can steal. This is especially the case with Supers systems, since none of them has ever 100% worked for me. Lots of them have concepts I like but tied to other things I don't.

MHR handled the idea of team power imbalance better than any other Supers RPG but failed on some other levels for me. The old Mayfair DC Heroes had that power ranks table but too much crunch on top of it and I didn't like the D&D relic of enforced power levels for M&M in any edition. Champions looks like something that's great if you're willing to put in the time needed to write up the stats in between sessions and FASERIP... Um... Why do people like this thing again?

So I'll be looking at the game just to see if the system is any good. If the setting is all the shit from the current comic universe then that can just be ignored. I mean, we're talking about Superhero RPGs here. Anyone who's read one that's not an official license has seen the parade of cringe-worthy example NPCs they all include. Do you feel obligated to use them if you run the system? No, and the fact that in the upcoming game the fact that these people have appearances in comics by a big name company doesn't change that.

I mean, the official press release there has done one thing right. It's made sure that every gamer who reads about it will look up more about the game just because we want to know WTF a d616 roll looks like.

Matt Forbeck is a preening mediocrity. I remember there was some writing award (from Gencon maybe?) that he and a couple of other winners of kept on calling the "prestigious (whatever the name is) award" like it was supposed to mean something.

But whatever, preening mediocrity is appropriate for Marvel.