Superhero RPG

[Nebulous]

M&M 2nd edition all the way my friend. There is even an expansion book, Ultimate Power, which is the size of the core book and offers over two hundred pages of more information on super powers. It's mind boggling cool. And there are tons of expansion material for the game, if you dig full color sourcebooks. I'm quite excited about a book of Magic coming out later this year.

But to chime in with what others have said, the sheer weight of options is daunting at first.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

if you are doing one offs go for M&M - or SAS

If you are looking for serious long term campaigning - go HERO.

But I am a complete Hero fanatic, so I am biased.
I personally prefer SAS (either the D20 flavor or the Tristat) to M&M but that is just me.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Once you get a handle on them though you'll wonder why you ever used anything else.

Jack

While my effects based system of choice is HERO, I second that statement completely.

 

[MadMaxim]

I'm with the Mutants & Masterminds crowd here. I've run some sessions and people have always enjoyed them. There's something about playing a character like Iron Man in a big power armor and smashing your way through tons of minions to get to the big badguy. The mechanics can seem overwhelming at first, but once you've tried to make a few characters you'll quickly get the hang of it. And you only use a d20! How cool is that!?

 

[The Human Target]

I'm going to add a vote for Mutants and Masterminds.

Its not perfect, but its pretty good. Both the first and second editions have things I like and things I don't in pretty equal measure, so I can't say I prefer either one.

I will say this- make characters all together as a group if at all possible. I've ran into problems playing it when the PCs just didn't mesh at all power wise and everyone was stumbling all over each other.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I will say this- make characters all together as a group if at all possible. .

That is just good advice for any game, not just M&M.

 

[jmucchiello]

If you want a system to handle DC/Marvel-style gaming, Mutants and Masterminds is about your only real choice.

Aside from HERO/Champions which M&M owes its existence to. HERO games releases probably just as many books as Green Ronin so it's not like you can call HERO dead.

Additionally, there's also a movement to resurrect the MSH FASERIP game over at roninarts.com. And if V&V was your favorite, someone else mentioned Living Legends above.

There are many real choices.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Aside from HERO/Champions which M&M owes its existence to. HERO games releases probably just as many books as Green Ronin so it's not like you can call HERO dead..

As my pocketbook can attest to.

DOJ incorporated in Dec '01 and have been publishing since April '02. So approximately 62 months. They have 66 book (IIRC). Just a bit more than a book a month. Not to shabby for a small company like HERO.

 

[Edheldur]

I'd recomment M&M as well, specially since I've just run my first supers game with it last sunday. One player finished a character in about 30 minutes (granted, it is a very curious mix of powers, but hey, he likes that) and another finished his after 3 hours since he wanted a "really original never-before-seen type of character" and the other 3 players kept mentioning names of CD/Marvel characters that could do what he was thinking (in the end, his character resembles Obsidian very, very much).

The game ran pretty smoothly, too.

 

[SteveC]

I'll make one of two recommendations based on your preferences: if you are completely sold on the D20 Mechanics, I'd recommend taking a look at M&M. If you're looking to try something a little different, HERO would be my suggestion.

Both games are point-based, and both are "effects based", meaning you buy powers in a generic fashion and apply the effects to them as you wish.

In terms of the pros and cons, I think that M&M has a better streamlined character design and power system. It's obvious that the authors have looked at the best superhero games out there, and simplified and streamlined things tremendously.

In terms of combat and playing the game, I have to give the edge to HERO. I've played a lot of M&M, and the more I play it, the less that I like the combat/damage engine. I know that might be heresy in some parts, but that's my opinion. You can look at it for yourself, as the basics of the rules are here. Many people like the system, but I've found that it doesn't make for a satisfying combat. Any attack that can injure someone at all, has an all too high probability of effectively taking them out of the fight in one blow.

In both cases, these are just my opinions. If you take a look at either system and pick the one that fits with your idea of how comic physics works, you can't go wrong!

--Steve