#RPGaDay2015 Day 19 - Favorite Supers RPG

When it comes to Supers RPGs I've not had a ton of luck. I think it is largely because there's a number of genre conventions in superhero stories, primarily in comic books, that don't translate well in an RPG. Getting captured, letting the villain get away, etc. These are things that don't just sit well with most gamers.

With that in mind I've a bit less experience in supers gaming than in other genres. Off the top of my head I've run or played in:

  • Marvel Superheroes (TSR, original and advanced games)
  • Champions 3rd Edition
  • DC Heroes (Mayfair, 1st and 2nd editions)
  • Mutants & Masterminds (own all 3 editions, played 2nd)
  • Wild Talents

As with a number of earlier entries, it comes down to two main games.

I played a ton of the old TSR Marvel Superheroes game. It really seemed to capture the Marvel Universe of the 80s and early 90s rather well and was fun and easy to play.

I have also done a brief Wild Talents game, using the Kerberos Club setting. One thing I really like about Wild Talents is how it goes beyond traditional comic book superheroes - it can do them, but it's also designed to do a variety of settings with different genre conventions - indeed a large portion of the core rulebook is dedicated to building various axes of design - how much the world's history diverges from our own, what sort of an impact supers have, the morality of the setting, etc. It also has a system that I find allows characters like Batman and Superman to co-exist on the same team. The original incarnation of Wild Talents, the Godlike RPG, is a great example of a very narrowly focused low powered superhero RPG. Godlike characters are built around willpower which allows them to warp reality so that their powers can work (which explains why a super can lift a tank without having any leverage). They can detect other supers and can become involved in battles of wills with each other. While Wild Talents contains a possible future for the Godlike setting, introducing broader "Wild Talents" with a variety of origins, I'd love to take the pure Godlike supers and run with that in the modern day. With all this going for it, I'm going to give Wild Talents my vote. (If I'd played Godlike I think I'd be voting for that.)

I need to be careful with these posts, they are making me want to play a gazillion other games...




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