19th Level

I'm continuing thoughts on a possible superhero campaign, this time focusing on system. I'm going to be thinking about systems with a few criteria. They are: My thoughts on the system How well a fit it is for my group Any possible hiccups running the game with Roll20 The availability of the game My group consists of people who have all played a decent number of systems and genres. Some are pretty knowledgeable on rules and gaming history while others are more of the "here's what I want to do, tell me what to roll" style. We've dabbled in Fate-style games in the past - I like them quite a bit but I'm not 100% certain we're a great fit for such a strongly narrative style of play (though as I've said before, when Dresden Files Accelerated comes out we are most definitely taking it for a spin). We've made use of Roll20 for our gaming, with players concentrated in Massachusetts but with a number located further south. The character ...

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...

About ten years ago Hobgolblyn Press came out with the World War II superhero RPG game Godlike . Superhero might not be the right word though - it presented a gritty world where being superpowered was no guarantee of your survival. For most "talents" a bullet to the head could kill you as easily as any other soldier. Even if you were armored that armor was dependent on your willpower. If your will failed you, your armor would too. The game found its way to Arc Dream. Knowing that people were using it for non-WWII superhero games they did a pre-Kickstarter crowdfunding operation to produce the Wild Talents  RPG based off of Godlike . I wasn't part of the crowdfunding but I did manage to snag one of their extra copies. I will say one thing for that first edition - its binding rivals the old TSR 1st edition AD&D books - for some strange reason it slipped out of my car at my daughters' daycare as a blizzard was beginning. Unable to find the book at home and seeing...