Anyone on the forum do anything with Super Hero RPGs like Hero System, D6 or yes, even Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Ed.?
Ive played silver age seintinals, i thought it was pretty good
Anyone on the forum do anything with Super Hero RPGs like Hero System, D6 or yes, even Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Ed.?
Only Mutants & Masterminds recently: I'm currently playing in a Victorian Age supers game and I will be running a modern game for my group soon.
10 years ago I was into the Hero System (including Fantasy Hero).
Any reason you ask?
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Pop over to rpg.net. A week or so ago they did a bunch of superhero rpg reviews and there is a great column regarding the history of superhero rpgs. Good stuff.
Strangely, I've been jonesing for a good superhero rpg. I pulled out some old MSH stuff and have been going through it. Of course, being me, I want to combine it with a different game system (in this case, parts of Hero's point buy system), but that's just me being stupid.
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I have yet to play in a superhero RPG that I've actually enjoyed besides Aberrant. I liked Aberrant because it was a system that I was familiar with (White Wolf's d10 system) while all the other superhero RPGs that I've played use some kind of arcane calculus (Mutants & Masterminds, Hero System, Champions, etc.) to build characters.
Maybe I should try some kind of d20 superhero game?
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I have yet to play in a superhero RPG that I've actually enjoyed besides Aberrant. I liked Aberrant because it was a system that I was familiar with (White Wolf's d10 system) while all the other superhero RPGs that I've played use some kind of arcane calculus (Mutants & Masterminds, Hero System, Champions, etc.) to build characters.
Maybe I should try some kind of d20 superhero game?
Marvel Super Heroes most definitely does not require arcane calculus to build characters. It's also not very concerned with such niceties as game balance, logic, or well written rules, but it is a lot of fun in its bizzaro way.
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Marvel Super Heroes most definitely does not require arcane calculus to build characters. It's also not very concerned with such niceties as game balance, logic, or well written rules, but it is a lot of fun in its bizzaro way.
Hmmm... being able to run roughshod over a GM's concept of an intriguing and well-balanced plot is always exciting...
I know some masochists who might run something that doesn't make any sense at all. Hell, one of them even runs BESM d20 from time to time!
Marvel Super Heroes most definitely does not require arcane calculus to build characters. It's also not very concerned with such niceties as game balance, logic, or well written rules, but it is a lot of fun in its bizzaro way.I have yet to play in a superhero RPG that I've actually enjoyed besides Aberrant. I liked Aberrant because it was a system that I was familiar with (White Wolf's d10 system) while all the other superhero RPGs that I've played use some kind of arcane calculus (Mutants & Masterminds, Hero System, Champions, etc.) to build characters.
Maybe I should try some kind of d20 superhero game?
I think Dan DiDio might be sending Time Warner shock troopers over to your house for mentioning "Marvel Super Heroes" in the same paragraph as "bizzaro." Just sayin.
I power-gamed Champions for 5 years--if one guy power-games Champs, it's no fun unless everyone does, because thats the only way it can balance.
And the GM must be a creative evil genius--that is absolutely essential.
We had all of the above, and our campaigns were the most successful games we ever played.
Strangely, I've been jonesing for a good superhero rpg. I pulled out some old MSH stuff and have been going through it. Of course, being me, I want to combine it with a different game system (in this case, parts of Hero's point buy system), but that's just me being stupid.
Our Champs campaigns were in the Marvel Universe, we didn't even touch MSH because we had all grown up reading the comic books. We used a marvel comics encyclopedia to make marvel builds, but usually we didn't mix with any of the marvel icons except for a few legendary battles.
Hero's point buy is beautiful, or so I think, but it can sure be exploited with obscene tweaking.
What I loved most about our Supers campaigns were the moral and ethical decision we were making. Every few weeks the villains would put us in situations where we were making mroal decision that required long debates around the gaming table. We would get so involved that any idea of being IC or OC just evaporated. And of course some of the decisions haunted us for the rest of our heroing days.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Our Champs campaigns were in the Marvel Universe, we didn't even touch MSH because we had all grown up reading the comic books. We used a marvel comics encyclopedia to make marvel builds, but usually we didn't mix with any of the marvel icons except for a few legendary battles.Hero's point buy is beautiful, or so I think, but it can sure be exploited with obscene tweaking.
I can't convince my group to go anywhere near Hero. Honestly, I'm a little intimidated it myself, but I do wish I could play it.
What I loved most about our Supers campaigns were the moral and ethical decision we were making. Every few weeks the villains would put us in situations where we were making mroal decision that required long debates around the gaming table. We would get so involved that any idea of being IC or OC just evaporated. And of course some of the decisions haunted us for the rest of our heroing days.
Want to share a war story? I'd be interested in hearing more.
Hi All,
I have done my fair share of super hero roleplaying, including DC Heroes, Champions, GURPS Supers, Marvel Saga, Necessary Evil, and M&M 2E. All have their respective strengths and weaknesses, but I will have to say that of the current supers games out there, M&M 2E would be my recommendation if someone were looking to try it out. For more information I recommend checking out the M&M website at:
http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/
Good Gaming,
Mark
Anyone on the forum do anything with Super Hero RPGs like Hero System, D6 or yes, even Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Ed.?Only Mutants & Masterminds recently: I'm currently playing in a Victorian Age supers game and I will be running a modern game for my group soon.
10 years ago I was into the Hero System (including Fantasy Hero).
Any reason you ask?
I've purchased the three core books for Mutants and Masterminds 2nd ed. (M&M 2nd Ed. The Mastermind's Manual and Ultimate Powers) and I'm going to put together a PBeM campaign sometime around August, probably after Gen-Con.
Although I'm not going this year.
Stay tuned for an announcement on the Paizo Boards. :-)
Or you can send replies to my slave-scribe Jeffrey, Contact devilboy@anv.net or my own e-mail box, Contact pigeonblue@gmail.com. You'll need to cut and paste these e-mail addresses.
Leave something of an inquiry about the game in the header of the document or I'll think it's spam and feed it to my pet gelatinous cube.
Ive played silver age seintinals, i thought it was pretty good
Too Bad the company went under three or four years ago. But hey, I have some of their source books. Good solid material if you need to hero or villain to convert.
Want to share a war story? I'd be interested in hearing more.
"The SMASH campaign"
The classic moral decision made in the campaign required one character to be absent.
Our main brick was Man-Cat, and his father was a supervillian of the darkest evil (and the stupidest name: Deedy-Weedy). After putting him away several times only to have him escape again and again, someone suggested that he should be permanently eliminated for the good of humankind, but Man-Cat would have none of it.
So one day when neither Man-Cat, nor the Man-Cat player himself were around, the DM informs the team that they have some intelligence that leaves an opening to take out Man-Cat's dad, permanently.
We had little flying ball from space whom we called "Baseball" with a cosmic power pool who was able to exploit the weakness we had discovered, and he killed the villain. From that day on Man-Cat remained in the group but something snapped within him, and he was never truly loyal to the group again.
It was great roleplaying. And strangely, putting a wedge between the characters brought the players together.
Another Champions story, and it's not about morality, was the honing of absorbing bricks.
Like I said, we were shamelessly power-gaming, our GM was unemployed twice during the campaign and was a genius power-gamer himself, so there were no problems for him to crank out villains who could give us a run for our money. GAAAAAH! Noooooooo! the PLASMOID.
Anyway, we started new characters, the rules were wide open, so half the team walks in the first day with flying kinetic absorbers who can buff themselves by doing move-throughs on the ground as they fly into battle. Another one who bites power-lines and pipes it straight into strength. So there we were with 300 point characters who could go toe to toe with 800 point stock characters.
The point being that when you power-game Champions just get the core rules and a city map from the local gas station--the stock characters are not worth the paper they are printed on and the campaign settings are never as well fleshed out as your own home town.
OR, avoid power-gamers.
We have a Marvel Superhero game (using M&M) that has been on hold for about four years, lol.
If and when we start it back up we will be using M&M 2nd edition to play it -or possibly the Hero system.
Hey the Hero's System is great, weather it is Champions,
Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, Star Hero, or the New Traveller Hero
(new era 1248). All are great.Penn
Yah, and what's great about it is it is all basically the same. The GM must put regulations on rule use to keep it in genre and limit power-gaming, so you need an experienced GM.
That said, we have never found anything we couldn't do with hero system.
I've always wanted to play a fantasy campaign using Hero, and not with the book bums and stock characters from Fantasy Hero, but with everything built ground up.
It frees magic from the limit of particular spells. And although non-linear thinking is great in a D&D mage, a guy with a cosmic power pool in Hero can truly work wonders.
I guess I was waiting for the right Campaign setting.... Hmmm: Pathfinder--Fantasy Hero....
Hero System, 2nd best resource material out there (Steve Jackson's supplemental material is hard to beat for quality). You get more bank for your buck because they use black and white, optimize the print area, and there's nothing fancy to get in the way. All game!
Sure, it may take a bit to get the hang of things, but play it on a regular basis for a few months and you're good to go! While GURPS and Hero may seem similar, Hero is hands down the best for Supers (GURPS has more of a fantasy feel to it). Plenty of options to do what you want to do, and plenty of websites out there that will be able to help (there's a page on the "Circle of Heroes" webring with tons of published Supers in 4th Edition).
I had a good look at GURPS Supers, it looked solid, but we never played.
I used GURPS to build a Space Campaign and played in a Special Ops campaign with a few monsters thrown in.
A GURPS Fantasy campaign sounds enticing, but it has never come up in my gaming groups.
Champions was the system that got me started role playing. It may be a bit intimidating at first, but once you get the hang there is almost NOTHING you can't do with it.
Marvel had a decent character generation system, in the basic set. Stay away from The Ultimate Powers Book, or as we came to call it, The Ultimate Game Balance Destroyer. DC Heroes was a close second to Champions as a system. We used MSH to generate characters then converted to DC for one of the most memorable campaigns I've ever played.
I never got to play Villains & Vigilantes, but it had THE best random character generator of them all. No matter what I rolled up, the power sets were always internally consistent and easy to find a rationale for. Good times, good times....
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Geez, I am but a grasshopper. The only superhero RPG I have extensive experience with is Heroes Unlimited. Though in retrospect we played some of the most memorable games I've ever had with it, I actually really dislike the system, which was basically 2d. ed. D&D with many more hit points. Also, I felt that magic was overpowered - a mutant character could spend 30 rounds blasting away at someone with 300 SDC, but the mage had numerous spells that would take care of him in one round.
I recently bought M&M (but haven't read it yet), so I'm hoping that one has a better system so that we can start up a new superhero game of some kind.
Marvel Super Heroes here (TSR version and a home brew system available online). I think Nick Logue also runs Marvel - theres a thread that details his Marvel exploits.
Search Yahoo for "Marvel Super Heroes" & "d20"....theres plenty of resources.
yep; am pretty much like what others have done; played most of them, but usually do Champions in a Marvel type setting, even using marvel adventures converted to Heroes game system; the Palladuim rifts superheroes and ninjas and superspies is nice too.
I used to love playing the old Marvel Superhero RPG, I own both M&M and HERO System but haven't had the chance to use them. My group is hesitant to anything that isn't D&D (and with so many great adventure paths it looks like we'll be playing D&D for a long time :) )
I've played almost every supers game under the sun ... I loved MSH and can feel some of the influence from MSH on M&M. Love M&M ;)
Marvel Super Heroes most definitely does not require arcane calculus to build characters. It's also not very concerned with such niceties as game balance, logic, or well written rules, but it is a lot of fun in its bizzaro way.
INDEED! This is my favorite supers game hands down...no other game "get" the uber mayhem that should result when super powered foes clash! Sebastian is right though...balance, none.
The way to fix this is to sit down with the players take notes on what kind of characters they want to play (backgrounds, personalities, powers, strengths and weaknesses) and then pre-gen their characters TOTALLY ignoring the actual character creation rules. Then this game simply cannot be beat for sheer pulse-pounding, story rocking, action-packed fun.
Then this game simply cannot be beat for sheer pulse-pounding, story rocking, action-packed fun.
...Except perhaps by the DC Heroes 2nd Ed. (and later 3rd though you can't really tell the difference) system by Mayfair. It covers everything from playing the soldiers of Sgt. Rock's Easy company to fighting/playing gods (New, Greek, and Gaiman) and alien armadas. It even has a relatively simple mass combat system built in for when the your heroes need to fend off droves of martians or killer robots, as well as rules for subplots. In fact I like so much I translated a good portion of my Palladium collection into it. Now when my home game's Renegade mecha squadron is battling the rebel zentraedi insugents, Soviet special forces, or mecha pirates in the Amazon they can blow up a battle pod in one shot like in the original anime. Oh boy, and the cross overs you should have see the first encounter between our superheroes and the invid inorganics, mutant animals, mechanoids, or even the daleks (yep, I translated FASA's Doctor Who, Marvel Comic characters, as well as a few other games into the system - it's very very inclusive). A simple game engine and a simple chart the rest is all action.
I can't say for sure it's "da best" as I really haven't played Marvel Supers, but my players many of whom liked the game before meeting me seem to like DC Heroes more - yes, they did complain about Mavel's character creation system.
I guess I found a pick up game to run at GenCon.
;)
G-Cubed
I guess I found a pick up game to run at GenCon.
;)
G-Cubed
Count me in my man! I had DC Heroes 1st ed., but never played 2nd. I'll give it a dance!
Heh, well what I remember most about MSH (at least in the 80s) was the Dragon magazine article where the author wrote how he hated the system. All because he found a way, with about 1000 Karma, for Aunt May (yes, Peter Parker's sweet old aunt) to kill Galactus with a butter knife.
I've played a little Champions, Villains and Vigilantes, TMNT and Other Strangeness, and Marvel Superheroes RPG back in the day.
I was just looking back over this thread and realized I played some TMNT, too, when I was a wee lad. [pastoral music plays--fond memories dance through the pastures of my mind]. We used to switch off between that and Paranoia. So TMNT was my first supers game.
As for this:
Heh, well what I remember most about MSH (at least in the 80s) was the Dragon magazine article where the author wrote how he hated the system. All because he found a way, with about 1000 Karma, for Aunt May (yes, Peter Parker's sweet old aunt) to kill Galactus with a butter knife.
That's pretty funny. I bet the guy who wrote that hadn't played Hero System. We had an NPC called GO NOVA who could explode once a month, other than that he was a innocent, naive, pimply-faced wimp with no defense and a pretty low level character at that. Ever single point was channeled into an area effect blast (with far more than a judicious amount of limitations) that, under the right conditions, could have exterminated the downtown area of any large city, not to mention any super with inadequate Energy Defense. He was, for us, truly one of the great obscenties of power gaming Hero Sytem.
In order to save our hometown we had to kill him (it was a dark and vicious campaign full of sacrificing the one or the few in order to save the many).
Heh, well what I remember most about MSH (at least in the 80s) was the Dragon magazine article where the author wrote how he hated the system. All because he found a way, with about 1000 Karma, for Aunt May (yes, Peter Parker's sweet old aunt) to kill Galactus with a butter knife.
The author must have been way ahead of his/her time and likely a future WotC game designer (sarcasm). When we played MSH, we NEVER went back to the rule books after a few reads once we started playing. In this 'author's' case, he let the rules get in the way of a good time - a "rules lawyer" before rules lawyers were prevelant in gaming.
Aunt May as a player could never kill Galactus with a butter knife in my game: Aunt May would never amass 1,000 Karma.
Now, if she were to come across a Cosmic Cube.....
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Heh, well what I remember most about MSH (at least in the 80s) was the Dragon magazine article where the author wrote how he hated the system. All because he found a way, with about 1000 Karma, for Aunt May (yes, Peter Parker's sweet old aunt) to kill Galactus with a butter knife.
That's ridiculous. Tsr would never release something so broken...
Sorry, I just fell off my chair laughing. I'd love to see how that works. My vague memory of the rules is that aunt may couldn't penetrate galactus's armor no matter how much karma was spent.
Well if I remember correctly, she needed that much Karma to do the column shifts for hit and damage.
And yeah, the letters in the next Dragon basically said the same thing about how she couldn't get 1000 Karma. And how Galactus would have his own Karma (or villain equivalent) to column shift it back.
Heh, well what I remember most about MSH (at least in the 80s) was the Dragon magazine article where the author wrote how he hated the system. All because he found a way, with about 1000 Karma, for Aunt May (yes, Peter Parker's sweet old aunt) to kill Galactus with a butter knife.The author must have been way ahead of his/her time and likely a future WotC game designer (sarcasm). When we played MSH, we NEVER went back to the rule books after a few reads once we started playing. In this 'author's' case, he let the rules get in the way of a good time - a "rules lawyer" before rules lawyers were prevelant in gaming.
Aunt May as a player could never kill Galactus with a butter knife in my game: Aunt May would never amass 1,000 Karma.
Now, if she were to come across a Cosmic Cube.....
Werd. Not to mention that a butter knife don't give you no Kill result on a red...and even if she was using something that did, she would need a slew of Talents to even be able to damage Galactus with it (no damage, no Kill). And then you gotta count on Galactus failing his Endurance check (NOT. BLOODY. LIKELY.) and not spending his own karma on the roll. Whoever wrote that critique was a tard. MSH is awesome.
Well if I remember correctly, she needed that much Karma to do the column shifts for hit and damage.
And yeah, the letters in the next Dragon basically said the same thing about how she couldn't get 1000 Karma. And how Galactus would have his own Karma (or villain equivalent) to column shift it back.
Just to clarify, you can't column shift with karma, you can only increase your die result...which is cool, because even if you roll a 100 in MSH, you can't do s@~# to somebody who is three or four shifts higher than you. This game is pure sleek genius.
Except for the character gen system...that's...well...bizarre. It can be fun, but I always recommend pow-wowing with all the players and then pre-gening their characters based on their concepts rather than rolling them up at random.
MSH is
pure sleek genius.
hehehehe....
I absolutely loved Marvel Super Heroes, but my friends and I either ran the pregenerated adventures (I loved the cosmic series), or we did ran "Marvel Team Up" campaigns where we picked one main "star" and the rest of the guys in the group would pick new co stars for each story arc.
The Punisher/Daredevil/Spider Man arc was interesting . . . man were my friends pissed when my other friend kept zeroing out their karma . . .
I had a lot of fun with Heroes Unlimited. Some people might not like the Palladium system, but I thought Heroes Unlimited was one of their better games. TMNT, too, was a lot of fun (Combine it with Ninjas and Superspies for more coolness).
Mutants and Masterminds is also a really cool game (I only had the first edition).
I had a lot of fun with Heroes Unlimited. Some people might not like the Palladium system, but I thought Heroes Unlimited was one of their better games. TMNT, too, was a lot of fun (Combine it with Ninjas and Superspies for more coolness).
Mutants and Masterminds is also a really cool game (I only had the first edition).
Love TMNT, and even ran some tangential Heroes Unlimited stuff, but really once you add MDC, Autododge, and/or 7 attacks per round into the Palladium mix, the rules really start to show some weakness. If you keep it street level you are usually good.
Love the settings, don't love rules past a certain point. Favorite setting: After the Bomb - it really needs it's own gritty anime series or movie.
-GGG
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Love TMNT, and even ran some tangential Heroes Unlimited stuff, but really once you add MDC, Autododge, and/or 7 attacks per round into the Palladium mix, the rules really start to show some weakness.-GGG
When everybody gets to a certain # of beers, it's all good.
Dudes jumping off buildings, slowing their falls by stabbing the walls with their vibro blades, tantric rituals to get the p.p.e. together to cast a teleport spell to go to Iceland, etc...
Love TMNT, and even ran some tangential Heroes Unlimited stuff, but really once you add MDC, Autododge, and/or 7 attacks per round into the Palladium mix, the rules really start to show some weakness.-GGG
When everybody gets to a certain # of beers, it's all good.
Dudes jumping off buildings, slowing their falls by stabbing the walls with their vibro blades, tantric rituals to get the p.p.e. together to cast a teleport spell to go to Iceland, etc...
So that's what happens when I get drunk. I was always wondering why my vibro blades were so dull and why it was so cold out.
Joel Spiderman,
Accountant, Superhero
I used to play TMNT three times a week when I was in high school...some of my fondest RPG memories come from that game! I used to play with B.Vic (Brendan Victorson, co-author of Obsidian Eye and it's now never-to-be seen sequel) at his house after school and on weekends. Great times! My favorite character (who I almost always played) was an 8 foot kung-fu master Turkey named Barney...who wielded Daisho...even though he did kung-fu...those were the good ole days.
I used to play TMNT three times a week when I was in high school...some of my fondest RPG memories come from that game! I used to play with B.Vic (Brendan Victorson, co-author of Obsidian Eye and it's now never-to-be seen sequel)
In physical print anyhow, it still might make the online initiative. Don't you have the Improved Online Initiative feat? ;)
...at his house after school and on weekends. Great times! My favorite character (who I almost always played) was an 8 foot kung-fu master Turkey named Barney...who wielded Daisho...even though he did kung-fu...those were the good ole days.
Ah those were the days.... My favorite modern group was the Coyote Corp. a specially trained capture and kill squad that (Doctor Feral's first and only foray into experiments on larger, more intelligent carnivores - Boy, did he learn his lesson in the years that followed!). Then we did a group for After the Bomb/Road Hogs including: a gritty vulture biker guy named Winger with t-shirt that read Death from Above, a affable hippo trucker named Roy, a nature-loving peacenik bull named Lonesome Joe, a hot road runner rockstar who was trained by ninjas, a fiesty old road engineer scotty dog, a really slow and mean iguana guy, An all but useless possum with a bad attitude named Cleveland who could play dead.... I see another GenCon pick-up game forming....
You know Nick we should just have our own WereCon.
-GGG
You know Nick we should just have our own WereCon.
"All Cabbage, All the Time!"
Games run by werecabbages - awesome! :P
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You know Nick we should just have our own WereCon."All Cabbage, All the Time!"
Games run by werecabbages - awesome! :P
You could call it CabbaCon, not to be confused with cabouchon.
You know Nick we should just have our own WereCon."All Cabbage, All the Time!"
Games run by werecabbages - awesome! :P
I think GGG and Lilith are on to something here! I'd totally run some good ole TMNT action...in fact the thought of that just now made my heart swell and my blood rush all about. Soooo good the TMNT (and other strangeness of course). It's been far too long.