Superheroes are a hot commodity -- why aren't superhero RPG's?

[Psion]

I love Superhero stuff, but none of the people I game with seem to be interested in it.

Similarly, I think that the needs of the genre are very broad. Some of my players are not really fans of the Avengers or JLA, but really dig street-level stuff like Punisher or Daredevil. Though you may see the supers genre as a single genre, it's actually somewhat diverse.

 

[The Human Target]

1) Superhero movies haven't increased the sales of the comics they are based on.

2) RPGs are niche, but superhero stuff is decently popular in that niche. There have been a fair amount produced over the years.

3) The genre conventions of superhero comics are difficult to build mechanics around. You need to be able to cover zombies, time travel, aliens, gods, mutants, Nazis, robots, and guys with a bow and arrow. It's hard to do. As others have said, how do you build Superman and Batman as game characters that can work in the same game? Especially when many rpg systems are heavily based on d&d?

4) Superhero comics are full of narrative stuff that can be hard to run, again especially for the d&d influenced. How do you keep things running while Batman heads back to Gotham and Superman changes back into Clark Kent and goes to dinner with Lois? It goes against the "never split the party" mentality.

 

[Virgo]

1) Superhero movies haven't increased the sales of the comics they are based on.

2) RPGs are niche, but superhero stuff is decently popular in that niche. There have been a fair amojnt produced over the years.

3) The genre conventions of superhero comics are difficult to build mechanics around. You need to be able to cover zombies, time travel, aliens, gods, mutants, Nazis, robots, and guys with a bow and arrow. It's hard to do. As others have said, how do you build Superman and Batman as game characters that can work in the same game? Especially when many rpg systems are heavily based on d&d?

4) Superhero comics are full of narrative stuff that can be hard to run, again especially for the d&d influenced. How do you keep things running while Batman heads back to Gotham and Superman changes back into Clark Kent and goes to dinner with Lois? It goes against the "never split the party" mentality.

The "Champions" campaign I was in, lo, all those years ago consisted of original characters, who while super-powered, were not in the same league as Superman or Batman. It was a fairly large group -- our full roster topped 12 players but due to real-life events it was very rare for all 12 to be there at once. Sessions were usually one-shot episodes (in keeping with the spirit of comics of that time), so this way the rotating character line-up could be better explained between adventures. There were a few players who had very detailed backstories which definitely helped the GM with the narrative. Also there were plenty of adventure modules for the game so the GM wouldn't have to come up with one from scratch.

Given a choice, I would definitely prefer to create a character rather than play an established one. Our campaign was during the time Marvel Comics was red-hot with their "X-Men" titles so the setting was the Marvel universe with us playing local heroes in our city. That gave the opportunity for cameo appearances by famous Marvel heroes (one of the players was begging the GM for her superheroine "Columbia" to sleep with Thor. Never happened.)

 

[Greysword]

Wow, first post on ENWorld after all these years, and it is about supers

First, great question, Trismegistus! It seems to me there is an underlying desire by many gamers to branch into the superhero genre, but their apprehension appears to be due to uncertainty about trying new systems (outside of D&D) and the lack of GMs (or experienced players) to help them get started.

Champions (and the Hero System) is a fantastic game to run a supers campaign! However, it appears to be extremely complicated on the surface, which is likely a turn-off for many people searching for a system to carry the game (6th edition started with two huge tomes for the core books that were massive (464 pages and 320 pages respectively). In truth, it is relatively easy (Now, Champions Complete is a 242 softcover, which is what I use)! Also, the game front loads a lot of the scary math to character creation, so running the game is smooth.

As a new GM, I was asked to run our campaign after the experienced GM had to bow out. It helps that two of the other players are also skilled with the system, but I've found it relatively easy to GM. The system has been around since the 1980s, with LOTS of material, and the mechanics are essentially the same since the first edition (unlike D&D). Thus, modules, material, and villains from First and Third edition are pretty compatible with 6th edition (enough so that I can run them from the book on the fly without a lot of pregame conversion if required). As an example, I've had the team start the module To Sever and Protect, featuring The Protectors (your group? LOL!) from 3rd edition using the stats in the book.

I have also found it easy to split the party in Champions! For our first adventure, I need to break a few villains out of jail, so I had the heroes responding to calls around the city, leaving only two to thwart the jailbreak. Initiative and turns churned like butter!

Unfortunately, game stores in my area don't have a lot of the game books in stock (if any), especially the Champions Complete book. If they did, it would help advertise the system and genre more, and may spark more interest.

In summary, Champions is crunchy and appears to be intimidating, but as an inexperienced GM, I find the flow of play and wealth of past material males it easy to to run the game and give my players a good time!



<TL;DR> Below, I will list a few of the adventures and material I've used since I started as GM last October. Remember, this is from a novice GM!

Champions Complete has all the rules needed to run the game, including a selection of important villains and a super hero team to use as an example. Our group is of the power level you'd find with Marvel's New Mutants or DC's current JLA.

There are three books of villains upgraded to 6th edition (Master villains, villain teams, and solo villains). These are the same villains you'll find in many of the older edition's modules and printed adventures (Mechanon is their version of Ultron, and Dr Destroyer is sort of like Dr Doom).

I don't yet have the Powers book, but it has more archetypes in it, and the Bases book has options and examples for creating evil lairs or downtown high rise headquarters.

I have found both paper and PDF books for 5th edition (which was very prolific a run) on DriveThruRPG and the Hero Games website for cheap. They also released all of the 4th edition material on PDF recently, and much of the earlier editions abound for cheap.

I have a book for Corporations (from 4th ed), aliens (from 4th ed), To Serve and Protect (from 3rd ed), and Normals (4th ed).

If you want a lower powered game or noir genre (along the lines of Agents of Shield, Daredevil, The Shadow, or Dick Tracey), Champions Complete have built in rules to do this!

As for my game, I have an overall unnamed master villain that is turning their city into a staging area for all evil and villainy ion the region, a superhero team gone rogue, a local crime-lord is hunting a couple of the team members (including my former PC), a coven of witches hunting a mystical artifact, and VIPER (aka COBRA in GI Joe) is setting up shop. They will all converge due to the machinations of the master villain, but they provide lots of adventure options to keep the game flowing (the PCs are sleuthing a local murder part of the session and battling alien hunting vigilanties the rest of it).

Lastly, Champions Complete has a list of powers and effects, but the one to use may not be obvious. The player should think of a character concept, then the special effects he wants the character to accomplish (Flash runs across water, Colossus turns to steel and has super strength, Batman has a utility belt with whatever gadget he needs at the moment). Next, he filters through the list of powers and finds one that gives him the mechanics to fit the power effect (Running on water uses the flight power instead of running, since he glides across the water fast; Colossus has resistant protection and boosted strength; Batman has a Variable Power Pool that allows him to change his power each time he has a turn).

 

[Virgo]

Welcome, Greysword!

While during my rpg golden era I had a substantial collection, over the years I've sadly had to part with pretty much all of it due to location moves/space consolidation. The only rpg's I currently have are D&D 5e, Champions Complete (softcover) and DC Adventures Hero's Handbook (I also have both the TSR and West End Games versions of the Indiana Jones RPG as well as all known modules/sourcebooks but it was more of a maybe-this-will-be-worth-something-one-day kind of thing).

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my first rpg was "Champions" back in the early 1980's and you're absolutely correct -- even back then the character generation process was a very daunting process. The HERO system back then did allow for an unbelievable amount of customization but in doing so the designers had to make sure they covered every possible framework. For someone like me who was new to rpg's, that prospect of figuring out every detail of your hero was absolutely terrifying.

I've also mentioned before that superhero MMO's like the late, lamented "City of Heroes" and active offerings such as "DCUniverse Online" and yes, even "Champions Online" can help fill that supers rpg void but not completely. You can only use what the MMO offers in the way of powers/abilities and it eventually gets to the point where it feels you're simply grinding out xp just to get to the next level. Fortunately my local game store will soon start an ongoing rpg event with different game systems and the GM running the event did inform me that one of those systems will be Mutants & Masterminds/DC Adventures. I'm hoping that will kindle an interest in an ongoing supers campaign. Fingers crossed!

 

[The Human Target]

The "Champions" campaign I was in, lo, all those years ago consisted of original characters, who while super-powered, were not in the same league as Superman or Batman. It was a fairly large group -- our full roster topped 12 players but due to real-life events it was very rare for all 12 to be there at once. Sessions were usually one-shot episodes (in keeping with the spirit of comics of that time), so this way the rotating character line-up could be better explained between adventures. There were a few players who had very detailed backstories which definitely helped the GM with the narrative. Also there were plenty of adventure modules for the game so the GM wouldn't have to come up with one from scratch.

Given a choice, I would definitely prefer to create a character rather than play an established one. Our campaign was during the time Marvel Comics was red-hot with their "X-Men" titles so the setting was the Marvel universe with us playing local heroes in our city. That gave the opportunity for cameo appearances by famous Marvel heroes (one of the players was begging the GM for her superheroine "Columbia" to sleep with Thor. Never happened.)

Yeah I think a low to moderate power X-Men style game is the beast/easiest way to go.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

IMHO, the best source material for supers campaigns, generally speaking, is the team titles, not the solo stuff.

So ignore Superman, Daredevil, Spawn, etc., look at X-Men, Justice Machine, Legion of Superheroes, and so forth. Why? Besides the obvious, the team books tend to skimp on the narrative complications The Human Target mentions above. You might get hints here and there, especially if something major is developing for a character, but for most team books, you won't see much in the way of a character's missing out on a mission as because her kid has the mumps or he has jury duty.

...though excuses like that may be handy if players actually have to miss game night...

Instead, unless and until the personal life sans masks starts to impact cape time, the team books tend to have a more..."action-centric" pace.

They also tend to introduce complications that most solo heroes don't have to deal with, like maintaining an obvious base of operations, or if they don't have one, the logistics of how the team can assemble when needed. And those complications can be good sources of plots.

 

[Jose Allen]

I am long overdue for a Supers game. Sadly in Tampa, Florida everyone is all about D&D and Pathfinder...

 

[Virgo]

I am long overdue for a Supers game. Sadly in Tampa, Florida everyone is all about D&D and Pathfinder...

Alas, very true. If I hear of a supers game starting up in the Tampa area I'll definitely let you know.

 

[Jose Allen]

Alas, very true. If I hear of a supers game starting up in the Tampa area I'll definitely let you know.

Good to hear, thanks!

At this point, I'm just looking for a homegroup to play with.