So I'm planning on running a superhero campaign online. I have a variety of systems to choose from, but I'm not sure which ones to use. So, I'm hoping to see what advice the forums have. Here are the systems I own:
Savage Worlds with the Super Powers Companion (the newest one): Looks interesting and solid, and I've heard good things about it. I've played a Savage Worlds game, but never ran one, and never a super heroes one. Still, could be interesting.
Mutants and Masterminds: Never played this one either, but again, looks fun. I got the Core as a gift, but I don't own the other books. Also it doesn't look like they've published more in it for a while, and I don't want to commit and find out that they are doing a fourth edition. Still, the quintessential super hero game.
Marvel Superheroes (Cortex): I've actually played this one and while I love the plot points and doom pool, I do wish the the mechanics had more I could bite into. Definitely an option.
If you guys have any other options I could check out that I haven't heard about, feel free to drop them on me. I'm willing to play anything except HERO 6th (personal reasons).
Thanks again.
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HERO 5th. ;)
Palladium sterfs.
I'd probably go with M&M though, good things I hear. Just use what you have.
V&V is great - wonky, but great. I've no idea if it's even around anymore.
Have you tried New World of Darkness. Between house ruling splat powers and Mortal Psychic stuff, you can get some pretty nice super hero stuff going.. Or Scion?
I don't think I've seen V&V before. I may have to check that out. I've heard good things about M&M, so I was a bit curious about that as well.
I have two old-school recommendations.
If you want a gritty "Civil War" type of game (the Marvel Universe version), consider looking on eBay or RPGNow for Brave New World. Some of the Power Packages are a little out of balance (e.g., the power to shoot energy blasts from your hands vs. the power to hide small items in your stomach), but the setting is really enjoyable. Matt Forbeck did an awesome job.
If you are going the old school route, you may also want to consider picking up Alternity. You can get the core books pretty cheaply on eBay or Amazon, and all you really need are the Player's Guide, GM's Guide, and the book of FX (Beyond Science). The Dark Matter books, especially the Arms & Equipment Guide, would be handy, too.
Savage Worlds is my personal preference, but that's because I pretty much use it for anything these days except for very specific game types (horror primarily, I prefer dedicated systems for that. Though my current game has horror elements, it's more Buffy style horror than actually scary).
GURPS Supers can work well, we used it for a Silver Age style supers campaign that went on for a long time, but character building can get pretty complicated, and our GM had to house rule the damage system a bit to get a really comic book sort of feel (we went for more stun and knock backs than straight up death dealing), so depending on what exactly you're looking for it may or may not work. We also found that we had to include additional books to allow for certain non-traditional supers (the Zatanna type needed a more comprehensive magic system, while our cyborg type used the a sci-fi companion book)
I second the old school Marvel / DC heroes (if you can find them).
Gurps hero is good, though you need the main and supers books.
Champions works too.
Level based systems seem to have trouble at super hero games - though can be used for gritty games (more Batman, less Superman).
GURPS 4th edition plus GURPS Supers and GURPS Powers.
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White Wolf's Aberrant might be good if you are acquaintance with World Of Darkness/Exalted/Scion mechanics.
I tend to lean towards M&M myself. It's similar to HERO only not as math heavy and they have a DC version of the game if you want to use an existing comic book setting.
For me flexibility in power creation is a must for a superhero game. I like coming up with ...odd ideas for heroes.
Captain Astonishing had the superpower to "hear the sound track of the universe" Sort of a combination of Danger Sense, Empathy and minor Buffing from knowing "the right moment" to give inspirational speeches and such.
Hard to make a power like that in less flexible systems
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M&M 2nd Edition is just the best for superhero action, but 3rd Ed is rad too once you cross the d20 uncanny valley.
M&M is my favorite RPG, the only trickiness is enemy stat blocks. Which can be mitigated with something like Crooks! 2e or some of the other villain supplements for the game.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND
Superhero games are pretty wide open as regards to content. What sort of power level and setting are you thinking?
Because if you're looking for something narrative and low prep, I might recommend FATE it's pretty adaptable for superheroics.
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To the OP it's really strange that you lost all the stuff you purchased. At the very least if I ran the company you would have gotten a refund. At most some kind of credit. If you were able to prove that product was bought from the store. It's bad enough that the company has fallen on hard times. Now their handling of fans leaves much to be desired. It's not helped that their core is out of print. With copies of volume 1 going for 1000$ or more on Amazon.
My picks would be M&M 3E. The latest version. Followed by the classic Marvel rpg from TSR. Third would be Heroes Unlimited though the Palladium system may not be everyone cup of tea.
I don't recommend Brave New World. A very restrictive character creation process IMO. Coupled with Pinnacles annoying habit of the time of keeping important setting information even from GMs.
Depending on the style of Supers game you're looking for, Godlike is also worth considering. Runs a grittier hero game, where most characters have one or two powers, and things like invulnerability are pretty rare if not unheard of. No-one goes running around in costumes, because that's asking for a sniper to take you out.
Memorax: Regarding books going for $1000 on Amazon, that's usually a result of auto pricing algorithms going mental over something being out of print and in short supply. Often a bit of searching will find more reasonably priced copies (though still expensive).
Been a long time since I've read Brave New World books, but I seem to recall despite the vagueness and secret nature of it, everything was pretty much explained to the GM in the guides section of each book. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the secrets that were left untold in the books were left that way because the line got cancelled partway through, and the primary dev/author actually revealed a bunch of the remaining mysteries on his site in 2004, probably because he realised it wasn't going to be picked up again. Most of the important secrets are now on the wikipedia page
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Thanks for the ideas. It sounds like M&M might be the best fit. I've got the core rules. Any otherbooks from them I should get? I'm always down for a Rogue's Gallery type book.
For Power Level, that's a hard one to explain. I guess I'm looking for more on the level of Spiderman or older x men; dealing with city-wide problems and keeping things simple.
If you are pushed for coming up with Rogues, poke around DriveThru RPG a little. There is a surprising number of small "Villain Packs" you can get
Baseraiders has become the ONLY superhero system I would ever dream of using.
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Memorax: Regarding books going for $1000 on Amazon, that's usually a result of auto pricing algorithms going mental over something being out of print and in short supply. Often a bit of searching will find more reasonably priced copies (though still expensive).
That explains and thanks. Still even outside Amazon sellers are insane as well. Yes it's out of print. Yet in this day and age where PDF is a common format and a alternative to print. Selling something for more expensive when a PDF is cheaper. Is imo dumb. The classic Marvel TSR set sells for almost 80$. When one can go online and find all the rules at classicmarvelforever.com.
Been a long time since I've read Brave New World books, but I seem to recall despite the vagueness and secret nature of it, everything was pretty much explained to the GM in the guides section of each book. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the secrets that were left untold in the books were left that way because the line got cancelled partway through, and the primary dev/author actually revealed a bunch of the remaining mysteries on his site in 2004, probably because he realised it wasn't going to be picked up again. Most of the important secrets are now on the wikipedia page
It was not just BNW. It was common with Deadlands classic as well. Giving some small setting information but never all of it. It was only and I mean only with the Savage Worlds version did we get all the information. Even then not a fan of the character creation system. I get that it was meant to reduce the time needed to make a character. I just found that it was too limited to what other superhero rpgs offered imo. One could be a blaster and do nothing but blast stuff. One could be a brick character and nothing but. Even Heroes Unlimited offered more and that's saying something,
Memorax: Regarding books going for $1000 on Amazon, that's usually a result of auto pricing algorithms going mental over something being out of print and in short supply. Often a bit of searching will find more reasonably priced copies (though still expensive).
That explains and thanks. Still even outside Amazon sellers are insane as well. Yes it's out of print. Yet in this day and age where PDF is a common format and a alternative to print. Selling something for more expensive when a PDF is cheaper. Is imo dumb. The classic Marvel TSR set sells for almost 80$. When one can go online and find all the rules at classicmarvelforever.com.
It was not just BNW. It was common with Deadlands classic as well. Giving some small setting information but never all of it. It was only and I mean only with the Savage Worlds version did we get all the information. Even then not a fan of the character creation system. I get that it was meant to reduce the time needed to make a character. I just found that it was too limited to what other superhero rpgs offered imo. One could be a blaster and do nothing but blast stuff. One could be a brick character and nothing but. Even Heroes Unlimited offered more and that's saying something,
Been a long time since I've read Brave New World books, but I seem to recall despite the vagueness and secret nature of it, everything was pretty much explained to the GM in the guides section of each book. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the secrets that were left untold in the books were left that way because the line got cancelled partway through, and the primary dev/author actually revealed a bunch of the remaining mysteries on his site in 2004, probably because he realised it wasn't going to be picked up again. Most of the important secrets are now on the wikipedia page
The new Super Hero Companion 2 definitely fixes that issue. It gives you a great deal of leeway with your collection of powers.
Also M&M will probably be the choice I end with. Although Base Raiders looks really interesting. I may look at it more...
Is there a difference between DCA and M&M? I notice they are done by green ronin publishing.
Odraude, have you got a link for the new Supers companion for Savage Worlds. I want to make sure I'm up to date.
Is there a difference between DCA and M&M? I notice they are done by green ronin publishing.
Artwork
And the DC books are hardcover.that is pretty much it.
Odraude, have you got a link for the new Supers companion for Savage Worlds. I want to make sure I'm up to date.
You can get a great deal of mileage out of trappings and the Switchable modifier.
Odraude, have you got a link for the new Supers companion for Savage Worlds. I want to make sure I'm up to date.You can get a great deal of mileage out of trappings and the Switchable modifier.
Hmmm. Might want to check that link mate, looks like instead of a url, there's a list of job requirements.
Anyway, possibly just as easy to ask this to check: Is it the book with the woman with flaming hands fighting a bunch of winged demon looking things above a city in the cover?
If so, that's the one I've got.
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FASERIP marvel super heroes.
Accept no substitutes.
FASERIP marvel super heroes.
Accept no substitutes.
So does that mean my Legion game is a substitute?
AAAGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mutants and Masterminds is really fun, yep.
Has an SRD too at d20herosrd.com.
FASERIP marvel super heroes.
Accept no substitutes.
So does that mean my Legion game is a substitute?
AAAGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a... Legion of substitutes! Yeah! I said it!
Odraude, have you got a link for the new Supers companion for Savage Worlds. I want to make sure I'm up to date.You can get a great deal of mileage out of trappings and the Switchable modifier.
Hmmm. Might want to check that link mate, looks like instead of a url, there's a list of job requirements.
Anyway, possibly just as easy to ask this to check: Is it the book with the woman with flaming hands fighting a bunch of winged demon looking things above a city in the cover?
If so, that's the one I've got.
Stupud Copy Paste at 11 pm...
Yes. I've built test heroes with that system and it works really well. Less granular than HERO and M&M but it's a good system.
Having a PDF is fine, but for a great many folks (myself included) there is simply nothing like having the real thing.Good point. Still just seems like a waste imo.
Probably selling as collectibles at this point.
Yeah, i'll admit, I kind of wish I did buy the hard covers. At least I'd still have access to them.
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Having a PDF is fine, but for a great many folks (myself included) there is simply nothing like having the real thing.
I like print myself. Except unless one significant other is both very forgiving and accepting. I doubt he or she wants to be told that 300+$ in some cases was spent on gaming. When their are bills to be paid and children to be fed. Now if one is single that's another story.
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My vote then for the OP is M&M. As he seems to be leaning toward it.
I'm not surprised Hero Games is in such financial trouble. Unlike Pathfinder which is very popular. Both the devs and hardcore fans of the system vastly overestimated the popularity of the system. While good production values help. It's never really been about that. The complexity and sheer size of the rules when more rules lite and smaller RPGs can do the exact same thing IMO. I get they wanted to keep the fans happy. Yet with 6th edition they pretty much ignored any feedback thst involved any major change.
Already some fans were not sure if buying 5E because of its size. They made it two books and twice as expensive. With very minor changes simply not worth the upgrade IMO. Even Gurps 4E feels similar to me at least. Then again SJG has extra money from munchkin also coming in.
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Thanks for the ideas. It sounds like M&M might be the best fit. I've got the core rules. Any otherbooks from them I should get? I'm always down for a Rogue's Gallery type book.
There was one for 2nd Ed, but I can't remember if I've seen a 3rd Ed one or not.
For Power Level, that's a hard one to explain. I guess I'm looking for more on the level of Spiderman or older x men; dealing with city-wide problems and keeping things simple.
PL 10 should be right up your alley, then.
I just recently wrapped a 7 month superhero campaign using Pathfinder. I started the PCs off at level 8 and they had extremely slow progression up to level 10 mythic 1.
By the accounts of the skeptics who occasionally played a villain for a session or whatever, it went much better than they expected. By the accounts of the regular players and myself it worked very well.
Essentially for this campaign we tossed existing flavor out the window and wrote our own for everything: bomb alchemist shooting radioactive blasts and teleportation wizard being a tech-based teleporter and mobile weapons platform. When it came to magic items, the players outfit their PCs with gear, and that gear was assumed to just be inherent bonuses they had, and part of their ability set. When I continue in this setting I am going to use the automatic progression in Unchained.
I can answer any questions pertaining to the game if you are interested.
I don't know how I forgot this one, but AMP: Year One by Third Eye Games is a pretty solid system as well. Plays to a very specific style of supers game (along the line of X-men) with the cause of the powers being genetic manipulation and mutation. Bunch of different strains of mutation, with varying powers within them and so on.
I wrote a bit about it on my blog during the Kickstarter for Year Two, the upcoming book for the second year of the metaplot. AMP: Year Two Kickstarter | The Grassy Gnoll
May not quite fit what you're looking for, but definitely worth a look even if just for some ideas.
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Mutants and Masterminds, or if you can find it, Mayfair's old DC Heroes game. My favorite experience as a player was a 12 year long DCH campaign. Great fun.
Not trying to be negative but I just want to give you some fair warning about trying to find the old DC Heroes from Mayfair. Good Luck.
I just started playing the system and OMFAMG! is it good,the downside is the books are outta print and stupid expensive on Ebay IE one core book will go for say 20 bucks while another goes for 100 same condition but different expectations from the seller.
I read a lot of reviews about it after I started playing it and yes it could be considered clunky by some but compared to other systems you get a real superheroic feel outta the game.
The power cost and the factor cost for increasing powers are not bad, some powers like magic sense are cheap and you can bump them up in no time, others such as time travel are waaaay more expensive.
The absolute MOST expensive power in the game is Sorcery which is impossible to buy starting out unless you take a massive amount of flaws but as someone that did OMG it was worth it.
Think 1st ed D&D while every other hero on your team is running around with strength scores that let them lift a Buick and use it as a club your strength is a 1 which is the equivalent of a human child. Their powers are at 6-10 range starting out, your scraping by with a two but with that you can use every single power in the book no matter what, you get to tell the DM " I wanna do this" and if you get the roles it happens. So your not starting out as superman( trust me no one does) but with enough time you can really be a very valuable team member.
More than likely if you want ease of getting your hands on the material then go with M&M just be ready to deal with the same power creep in any other D20 system.
Not trying to be negative but I just want to give you some fair warning about trying to find the old DC Heroes from Mayfair. Good Luck.
If you're lucky you can still track down a copy of "Blood of Heroes," which is essentially the game rules with a custom (non-DC) setting. I think the character creation in DCH/BOH is a little awkward in that you have to either "cheat" by upping the starting points or take an extreme number of limitations to get a character more powerful than Tim Drake, but once you get past that the gameplay mechanics are quite fluid and intuitive. I've had a lot of fun with that system over the years.
I think the character creation in DCH/BOH is a little awkward in that you have to either "cheat" by upping the starting points...
I wouldn't regard that as cheating. It's no different from playing, say, Pathfinder RPG and having the GM and players agree to start a campaign at 5th level. The default starting points are like a 1st-level character, set to "Robin" in case that's the sort of hero the players want to play. There are explicit rules for multiplying those points for higher "levels."
A bit of a necro, but FINALLY getting the ball rolling on this game. I've got three players interested and will be looking for more. However, one of them expressed an interest in the ICONS Roleplaying Game, from the same maker as M&M. It's a FATE styled game, which I usually don't like (I prefer more crunch), but I didn't want to write it off without hearing some opinions first. Anyone ever use this system and if so, how did they like it?
This isn't out yet, but probably warrants some mention.
Cam Banks was the lead designer on the most recent Marvel RPG. I'm almost sure it won't be Cortex, but I would say it will be that style of game. While a lot of people worked on Marvel, it has Cam's fingerprints all over it. I suspect the style and feel will share a lot with Marvel.
If I play the demo I'll update with info.
This isn't out yet, but probably warrants some mention.Cam Banks was the lead designer on the most recent Marvel RPG. I'm almost sure it won't be Cortex, but I would say it will be that style of game. While a lot of people worked on Marvel, it has Cam's fingerprints all over it. I suspect the style and feel will share a lot with Marvel.
If I play the demo I'll update with info.
I like the card game of Sentinels, so I'm looking forward to this. I know this Gencon, they are doing play test sessions of their game.
So we had the first session of the game yesterday via Roll20. We ended up using Savage Worlds due to everyone's preference. The topic is here for those that wish to read and keep up. It'll be every Sunday at 2pm, schedule permitting. Hope everyone enjoys.