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So who plays superhero RPGs, and what is your favorite? (Or, what are your favorites?)

For me, Villains & Vigilantes revised is my favorite. I've played other supers games (Champions, M&M, Marvel Superheroes, DC / Blood of Heroes, to name several). I used to collect supers RPGs and had many more than that. But it always boiled down to a preference for V&V. To top it off, FGU is putting out new product for V&V even now - 20 years after I started playing the game, they are still supporting it.

So who plays them, and which ones do you like?

I started playing Champions when it first came out. There wasn't much content then and I was almost able to get my hero capped out to the level at that point in time which was 40 but I lost interest.

Check out Necessary Evil for the Savage Worlds system.

Both books, the main SW rulebook & the NE world book, are available a 'Explorer's Edition, which are about $10 each.

Check out ICONS.

I'm not actually looking for more supers rpgs. I've got Necessary Evil (both original and explorer's edition), I had ICONS (was one of the preorderers for it). Just wanting to drum up some discussion about supers RPGs and what people like from them. Another supers RPG that I've discovered in late 2011 was Supers! It is a very light RPG done by the same guy that wrote Barbarians of Lemuria (see first post in this section). Doesn't use the same rules as Barbarians of Lemuria, but is very light and adaptable.

I played Marvel long ago. I have Icons now. I think super hero games are extremely difficult to pull off. The Villains have no morale codes or problems with lethal force. While the heroes must stay. "Heroic". Hard.
I play some Pbp games at the Goblinpid Games forum. I'm thinking about a short campaign with 2 groups of players. One of heroes & the other of villains directly conflicting.

I agree with what you're saying. Ever since the Punisher moved from a Spider-Man villain into a hero role, people have been wanting to play that guy more than the altruistic hero that helps because they can. I recommend letting folks read part of Shields of Justice (from the Silver Age Sentinels line) where it discusses heroes and why they are what they are.

I've played Marvel back in the 80's.
I've played and run NE.
I tried playing M&M, but it was still just D&D 3.0/3.5, that after the flexiblity of SW/NE; it wasn't worth it. Too many time the GM said, you can't do that, I stopped showing up.

I looked at Champions back in the 80's and the newer rules; after trying the MMO. Still to much min/max. Might as well play Munchkin.

I played Champions, but couldn't stand it. Seemed like the faster combat was going, the slower it took to resolve.

Played the old Marvel in the 80s - that was great and fun, but could just be memory. Shift X strength!

My favorite is GURPS Supers. You can run it high power, or low power, and seems balanced either way. And with all the other books, if you want a magician or psychic or cyber-goon, all those options are out there. If I had to pick a go-to supers game, GURPS would be it.

But, I am looking forward to the new Margaret Weis Marvel game due out shortly. I like the Cortex system, and if they do Supers that way, and have a decent power gneration rules, I will try it.

Anybody have anything to say about DC adventures/mutants and masterminds from Green Ronin? Curious about it. Is it d20?

M&M is.

I have not picked up the M&M 3rd edition or the DC Adventures book that shares the rules. I've been tempted to (the DC book, that is) because it is a gorgeous book. But as for the rules, I've gotten more interested in light games than the tinker games like this and Champions. I used to enjoy them, just time constraints pushed me the other direction.

My experience is with M&M 1 and 2, not 3. M&M3/DC does use a d20 for resolution, but the system really is pulled away from the original d20 roots. It is more similar to True20 than the original 3.x rules of the OGL. Levels are there, but are power level instead of a level gained by experience points (like in other OGL books). So the GM decides to make the game power level X, and that tells people the limits on how to build their characters.

+1 for GURPS Supers (or GURPS in general, for that matter)

We used to play the occasional game of Brave New World. Seem to remember it had a fairly simple rules system, and the fluff was pretty interesting.


ETA: Sorry for the threadomancy. Didn't realize this subforum was so infrequently visited

LOL
We're more of a trade oriented site. So, really, the only discussion forums that see much traffic are the ones in the "Bartertown information" section that deal directly with BTown matters. : ) Most everything else is a "whatever happens" kind of thing.

Eric

So this sort of resurrects an old thread.

Depending on style of play Superworld by Chaosium is something to look it. There is a supplement that has conversions to Champions and Villains and Vigilantes.


Game master and group dynamics are more likely to create a good game than the game system in any role playing genre in my not so humble opinion.