Superhero RPG that did it for you

[Justice]

What Superhro RPG got you started? Did you stay with it? And lastly - did you REALLY Role-Play a Secret ID or just treat it like AD&D with yet MORE power!

Please to share.

[ed]

V&V. not even a question. was introduced to it by a friend in 10th grade and it still remains a superior ruleset if run by those knowledgeable about it.

it's also why i love M&M so much.

ed

[TinSoldier]

Damn. I've never played a superhero RPG...

[Justice]

V&V. not even a question. was introduced to it by a friend in 10th grade and it still remains a superior ruleset if run by those knowledgeable about it.

it's also why i love M&M so much.

ed

Did you role-play your alternate ID, ed? Strangely, almost no one ever does, yet that IS what makes the genre so cool in classic superhero style.

We rarely did. But we did it on 3 meprable occasions, and they were great games.

[Justice]

V&V. not even a question. was introduced to it by a friend in 10th grade and it still remains a superior ruleset if run by those knowledgeable about it.

it's also why i love M&M so much.

ed

Did you role-play your alternate ID, ed? Strangely, almost no one ever does, yet that IS what makes the genre so cool in classic superhero style.

We rarely did. But we did it on 3 memorable occasions, and they were great games.

[Wook]

Hero 4th ed.

[ed]

justice: not at first, but yeah, eventually. we called those "me" characters and perversely, every single "me" character in that bunch always had darkness control!

ed

[JasonStarfire]

I've still never played V&V, though I'd like to just to try it out. I've played several superhero RPGs, though, but I cannot remember what the first one was (It was either Marvel or DC based, though).

I'm a total Mutants and Masterminds fanboy right now. Love it.

[BlueNinja]

Aberrant, which is sadly a White Wolf product, but for all that, I like the setting immensely. Mostly because it's not about super-heroes, it's about real people with power.

[JasonStarfire]

Aberrant, which is sadly a White Wolf product, but for all that, I like the setting immensely. Mostly because it's not about super-heroes, it's about real people with power.

Definitely. That was the first Superhero game I tried to run back in my high school days when everybody I knew only played White Wolf games (kind of my fault, but hey. I got about two dozen people into RPGs that way! :D ).

Just the other day, I stumbled upon a copy of Trinity, as well. I seem to have missed that when it was in print. Decent stuff, that.

[Magnus Bergqvist]

First supers-game I played was Champions. No I definetly did not stay with it as it was bad (it was however the only game availible when I studied in the US)... And again no, we didn't really roleplay the secret identity. heck, we didn't roleplay anything.

Then a breif encounter with the old world of darkness. Horror was something it did not lend itself to. It was superbeings with fangs and claws. bah, humbug! And it even did that badly.

Later on tried GURPS Supers, though GURPS scale up badly for 4-colour stuff. Lets just say that we quickly found that the powers our characters had were way too lethal...

Now, I am all for Mutants & Masterminds 2nd ed. My character is trying to reconsile part-time stuyding with part-time working and superhero-stuff. So far it works, though I expect things to crash and burn. =^_^= For those that read my Buffy-chronicle, well there you have proof how much my gaming group manages to screw things up...

/Magnus

[BlueNinja]

Just the other day, I stumbled upon a copy of Trinity, as well. I seem to have missed that when it was in print. Decent stuff, that. I read some of the core Trinity book before I started playing Aberrant, and found that I liked it much better after reading Aberrant. Not sure why, it's a good sci-fi setting (and seems to have fewer loopholes and contradictions than Aberrant, though I could be wrong) but it didn't catch my interest at first.

[Marsden]

Hero 4th Ed. Although my one attempt at running a supers campaign in it (just after I bought the book) was a disaster :D

I've just started running my second attempt at a short supers campaign, using a narrative style and 2d6 :D For a more systemed campaign I'd probably go with BESM now (of my quickly available options).

The one campaign of duration I've played in used Heroes Unlimited, and we spent most of the time in our 'normal' Ids, as it was really more of a genesis story.

[JasonStarfire]

I read some of the core Trinity book before I started playing Aberrant, and found that I liked it much better after reading Aberrant. Not sure why, it's a good sci-fi setting (and seems to have fewer loopholes and contradictions than Aberrant, though I could be wrong) but it didn't catch my interest at first.

I think that's why I sort of glossed over it at the time. In retrospect, I could have spent many, many hours playing it when I should have been doing homework. :D

[hidufel]

Started with V&V... up untill then id prolly gamed a whole 3 sessions before, that was gurps regular.

Still play V&V, but have branched into many other RPG genres too. Only ever played myeself in an online V&V game. never FtF.

[BattleNymph]

My first superhero game was Champions and we had truly to hide that we were heroes. It was heck of fun!

My second is Mutants and Masterminds now and it's also heck of fun.

I must like superheroes. :)

[JasonStarfire]

My first superhero game was Champions and we had truly to hide that we were heroes. It was heck of fun!

My second is Mutants and Masterminds now and it's also heck of fun.

I must like superheroes. :)

I've known people who generally dislike superhero games who enjoy M&M

[Starhawk]

I played a one-shot of V&V and hated it.

I read the Champions book once, shrugged and never got around to playing it.

I'm in a bi-weekly M&M game now. I play a college professor who does hero stuff part-time. His big secret (and secret ID) is that he's actually a morphed extraterrestrial sent to monitor the rise of supers among humankind.

I like M&M a whole, whole lot -- but apparently the designers intended it to be run a little more free-form and a whole lot less crunchy than D&D, because there are SO many holes in the rules and SO many unclear or illogical passages.

[Stephane]

My first one was V&V. I went to the gaming store and asked for something different from AD&D. The guy pointed me to a Supers game. He gave me the choice of Champions, V&V and a third. I asked which one was the easiest game to pick up (you have to remember that at this point I'm a little Frenchie boy that has yet to read a whole novel in English and has at best a English as a second language).

So I picked up V&V, read it fairly fast and started right away. I never looked back. It must have been 1984 or so.

[JasonStarfire]

I like M&M a whole, whole lot -- but apparently the designers intended it to be run a little more free-form and a whole lot less crunchy than D&D, because there are SO many holes in the rules and SO many unclear or illogical passages.

Second edition fixed some (but not all) of those problems. 1e was pretty bad by comparison. Luckily I usually (unknown to my players of course) run even crunchy game systems in a pretty free-form manner, so it was easy to adapt. :)

[Wook]

I like M&M a whole, whole lot -- but apparently the designers intended it to be run a little more free-form and a whole lot less crunchy than D&D, because there are SO many holes in the rules and SO many unclear or illogical passages.

Allow me to 2nd that in spades?

:verystupid:
:mad:
:banghead:
:signs013:

[Kalzazz]

Belac's Superhero RPG, where, hmm. Only one of my characters had a Secret Identity, and he used it some, but not much. One of my other characters also enjoyed wearing different costumes and pretending to be different people, particularly when trying to do evil things like Conquer Australia, but his main ID and his RL ID were not at all secret they were the same person

Played Aberrant a bit, Marvel Super Heroes a bit (Lee the Giant Praying Mantis who ran away to avoid an arranged marriage (marriages are bad if your a male praying mantis) and knew major Mantis Style Kung Fu!) and who wore a drovers coat and cowboy hat to disguise himself except in fights)), so he spent a lot of his time in his secret identify of Not a Giant Praying Mantis, M&M once where I dont even remember my character but dont recall it inspiring me much

Run some high powered GURPS thing, but unless count GURPS Sailor Moon, no high powered GURPS super type things, my GURPS Sailor Scout did do some stuff in her secret identify though

Also, currently in a GURPS 'Bargain Bin Supers' game, where goal was to try and make 'super' characters on a small budget. Vivi Starfall, Galactic Wildlife Preservation Group. Rather incompetent slacker of an intergalactic game warden whose stationed on a mostly unimportant planet, Earth. Because aliens like kidnapping Earthlings or dissecting them or using them for weird experiments, so they want to make sure noone causes them to go extinct. Rather prone to collateral damage being a mediocre shot and packing a heavy blaster pistol and other shiny gear. Naturally the other party members do not know her motive for this is 'save humanity for the aliens to kidnap'

Also, in a Freeform Sailor Moon game. Where so far the ENTIRE thing, in like a dozen or so sessions, has not let me transform once or blow something up once or anything, its all been as a normal person. And while some amusing romantic comedy bits and such I am really really really beginning to want to have violence and explosions

[Magnus Bergqvist]

I like M&M a whole, whole lot -- but apparently the designers intended it to be run a little more free-form and a whole lot less crunchy than D&D, because there are SO many holes in the rules and SO many unclear or illogical passages.

And the book Ultimate Powers explained some of the stuff in the core rulebook a a bit better. Of course some stuff like alternate powers and Morph are still way too powerful.

/Magnus

[JasonStarfire]

And the book Ultimate Powers explained some of the stuff in the core rulebook a a bit better. Of course some stuff like alternate powers and Morph are still way too powerful.

/Magnus

Absorption was pretty overpowered, too, iirc.

[Starhawk]

Second edition fixed some (but not all) of those problems. 1e was pretty bad by comparison. Luckily I usually (unknown to my players of course) run even crunchy game systems in a pretty free-form manner, so it was easy to adapt. :)

We're playing second edition and the rules are still a mess. Look up the Disarm rules sometime and explain to me why it is the ONLY time in the entire system you make a roll using your damage bonus instead of your attack bonus.

And the book Ultimate Powers explained some of the stuff in the core rulebook a a bit better. Of course some stuff like alternate powers and Morph are still way too powerful.
/Magnus

And some stuff is utterly imbalanced.

My character is a Force-Field user with the Impervious extra. It's a great protective power that costs me two points a rank.

Another hero in the group has the flat Protection power (a suit of mysterious alien armor he can't remove), also with the Impervious extra. Also two points a rank.

We have identical protection. My Force Field requires a free action on my turn to activate. His Protection is always on. My Force Field requires a Concentration check to maintain if I take a serious hit. His Protection is always on.

WHY are these two powers the same cost? Protection is infinitely better since it can't be stripped by a lucky shot.

Anyway -- cases in point that the rulesystem is still borked up.

[Magnus Bergqvist]

I do not dispute that M&M still has lots of problems. Though I think it is the best Supers-system I have seen, and it is a very interesting take on the D20
-system. A lot of the bugs in the system seems to come from the d20-system.

Lots of problems with things like Trip/Overrun/Disarm/Grapple. Doesn't help that the M&M interpretations isn't always that clear on what feats etc work in certain situations. It works fine for two musclebound tough-guys trading blows with each others.


I had an interesting discussion with the GM in the campaign about the possibilities of using the system for other stuff, we both agreed that it with some work in removing the most outlandish stuff, would work well for for Conanesque fantasy.

As for one of the more uniqe presentations of a gaming-system, that I have seen is a Swedish homebrew supers-game where the author presents it in the form of a comic published on a rpg-forum. The game itself though doesn't seem that interesting to me.

/Magnus

[Valdier]

I started with Marvel Supers, then Gurps Supers, moved to Windhaven/Bears custom game which I played for years, then tried Champs (ick), then M&M 1/2 which is where I have stayed ever since.

[JasonStarfire]

We're playing second edition and the rules are still a mess. Look up the Disarm rules sometime and explain to me why it is the ONLY time in the entire system you make a roll using your damage bonus instead of your attack bonus.
Oh, it's still pretty wonky, I'll admit that. I guess the rationale was that it's the act of hitting the weapon with force that causes your opponent to get disarmed, but who knows. Attack bonus would make more sense.

[Starhawk]

Oh, it's still pretty wonky, I'll admit that. I guess the rationale was that it's the act of hitting the weapon with force that causes your opponent to get disarmed, but who knows. Attack bonus would make more sense.

Well, the only thing that's nice is that it allows a critical hit to be more effective (since you get +5 damage ranks).

But, it is still the only time you roll using your damage bonus in the entire system.

It's also not clear whether the cap would apply to the +5, etc etc. Very confusing.

[Haze]

I can't remember what the first SuperHero game that I played was but the one I played and enjoyed was VnV. Perhaps that was because it was a PBEM but the whole thing worked very, very well.

I've played it a couple of other times via PBEM but never yet face to face and yes, I have played myself as per the original concept.

[Justice]

I just am jazzed about the idea of a Superhero making a Supervillain his secret ID or somesuchness.

I mean if they have Multiplicity or Duplicate Form that could be really hard to know. Or if they Duplicated and then the Dupe somehow stayed separate when the Original "felt" they had died.

Just has coolness.

Haze - you first played VnV PBeM? Was this under David Utter?

[Baelfyre]

I started with Champions. Ok, but too much rules-monkeying. Moved to Heroes Unlimited (first ed.), didn't particularly like it. Bought second ed., loved it. An excellent all around game. But it runs into the real problem with the Palladium system; namely that the experience system completely borks at 10th level.

Got Aberrant, and haven't looked back. Totally scalable power levels let you play at any power level you want. Characters that have been around for a while are freakin' scary. Super powers and Mega Stat's are just that.

Mind you, I thought the world for Aberrant was terrible.

[Cranky Dog]

First heroes game I tried back in my gaming club days was the Marvel Superheroes game, though I never really understood how it all worked.

Years later, a group of friends and me tried Trinity for a short adventure (we were sampling many games at that time). Being a sci-fi setting, having psychic powers didn't make me feel that "super", though my soldier character did max his telekinesis power at the very beggining so he could do interesting tricks with it.

Now it's M&M that I like. I can be abused so instead of doing that, I went entirely for flavor. Thought up of a concept and eventually managed to stat him.

My current character's ID is essentially a deluxe version of myself except that he now has some weird powers.


Cranky Dog
"I have a hero system opinion, international!"

[JasonStarfire]

One thing that I've found about Mutants and Masterminds is that it doesn't attempt to hide the fact that it can be abused. You're playing super heroes, after all. As much as a player may want to abuse the system and min/max or whatever, the DM can do the same (or better) with little effort to even the odds. :)

[Haze]

Haze - you first played VnV PBeM? Was this under David Utter?No but an offshoot from the Four Winds game, NY 4Winds run by Dan.

[Wook]

One thing that I've found about Mutants and Masterminds is that it doesn't attempt to hide the fact that it can be abused. You're playing super heroes, after all. As much as a player may want to abuse the system and min/max or whatever, the DM can do the same (or better) with little effort to even the odds. :)


Unless your players get pissy when you bust out a wang as big and floppy as theirs.

[JasonStarfire]

Unless your players get pissy when you bust out a wang as big and floppy as theirs.
When I bust out a big wang, it's anything but floppy. :D

[Justice]

:th_angelsmiley4:

Let us all pray the wangs are carefully placed far away from this thread.

[TinSoldier]

You might say on a wang and a prayer...

[Justice]

:D

I wish I HAD said that!

[JasonStarfire]

You might say on a wang and a prayer...

*groooooooooooooooooooooan*

[Wook]

*groooooooooooooooooooooan*

Any "prayer" involving a wang can't be *that* bad.

[JasonStarfire]

Any "prayer" involving a wang can't be *that* bad.

Just the ones that go unfulfilled. :D

[Justice]

Here's a related question:

How "superheroic" is your AD&D or other fantasy stuff. I noticed we had an awful trend of getting superpowers in fantasy medieval settings. Like we wanted to be uberhumans no matter what. Gone where the days of "Con 8 - I'll role-play that!"

Did you notice you were actually playing supers, just in a less restricted milieu?

[Chimaera]

All the time... Towards the end of my last AD&D campaign, we were essentially the Justice League of Faerun...

[Kalzazz]

Hero is the last word Id think of to describe most of my campaigns, super or otherwise

Random screwballs to unhinged psycopaths maybe, or sometimes pure mercenary, but I rarely seem to encounter heroic

[Justice]

All the time... Towards the end of my last AD&D campaign, we were essentially the Justice League of Faerun...

Ah. I knew we weren't the only ones. I had a monk with Boots of Speed. We made them Boots of Quickness instead (so we could double movement - in the orig. item, you doubled normal human movement to 48"/turn - but I was way past normal human movement...)

The joke was, we took a break one night and caught a weird short film on TV about some young magician running all over a mountain and countryside at hyperspeed, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. (Anyone ever see this clip? Have NO idea what its from - this was in 1984 or so, poss. NBC or ABC affilliate). My crew laughed "That's your character, man!"

He was so indeed the Flash.