Upcoming Superhero RPGs Coincidence or Zeitgeist

[ngenius]

So I am seeing adverts for multiple superhero RPGs on Kickstarter and Backerkit, some recently finished, others upcoming soon, that I have started confusing them. Do you all think this may be a coincidence or just the sign of the times?I doubt Captain America Brave New World could have triggered this RPG Superhero Renaissance, but maybe it did. Still, it is pretty amazing to see so many competing fo the same audience. I will start with Free Leagues Year Zero Engine D6 powered one

(1) Invincible The Role Playing Game (based on comics and cartoon)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/invincible-the-roleplaying-game

(2) Outgunned Superheroes (also D6)

(3) Heroes Assemble D&D5e ruleset

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/belazan/heroes-assemble

(4) Evolved Superhero RPG from Dungeon Crawl Classics

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ericfrombloatgames/evolved-superhero-ttrpg-powered-by-dcc-rpg

 

[Theory of Games]

We can never have enough superhero ttrpgs. EVER!!!

After finding Star Wars 5e I realized somebody could make a very good 5e superhero game. Eventually. S5e and Capes & Crooks are okay, but I need a 5e supers game that'll make me put down Mutants & Masterminds (which is kind of an unfair ask). It's a natural evolution: superhero ttrpgs let us do everything we couldn't do playing high-level D&D.

Power Fantasy?

 

[overgeeked]

So I am seeing adverts for multiple superhero RPGs on Kickstarter and Backerkit, some recently finished, others upcoming soon, that I have started confusing them. Do you all think this may be a coincidence or just the sign of the times?I doubt Captain America Brave New World could have triggered this RPG Superhero Renaissance, but maybe it did. Still, it is pretty amazing to see so many competing fo the same audience. I will start with Free Leagues Year Zero Engine D6 powered one

Well, the first modern superhero movie (Iron Man) came out in 2008. That's what launched the current superhero crazy that people are saying is now dying out from superhero fatigue.

There's a few other recent superhero RPGs. This is the second or third based on DCC RPG. A reprint of the old Mayfair DC Heroes game recently ended. And there's more.

I'm not sure they're the same audience. There are superhero fans who will only play 5E and there are superhero fans who refuse to play 5E. Pick a system or a style and you'll find a gap or split in the fandom. Love gritty, hate gritty. Love four color, hate four color. Love d6 dice pool, hate d6 dice pool. Etc.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

I can't think of a time when every year or two a super hero game didn't come out. Aside from fantasy, its the single most consistent release for the past 20 years.

 

[Theory of Games]

Well, the first modern superhero movie (Iron Man) came out in 2008.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I can't think of a time when every year or two a super hero game came out. Aside from fantasy, its the single most consistent release for the past 20 years.

I'd say scifi is well ahead of supers, but it's probably a healthy third for new rules sets over time. If anythin is real competition for that slot it's probably horror - but even fourth isn't bad. Supers is an enormously broad sub-genre after all, and when you add in all the smaller, less flashy indie stuff through DTRPG you'd probably need to go back into the days before online pdf formats to find a three-year gap where no new supers games at all came out.

Also worth pointing out that they can present us with all the preorder options and crowdfunding projects they like, but until I'm holding the book in my hand or reading the finished pdf, they haven't done a darn thing. Projected release dates don't mean squat - let me just point at Sentinel Comics for proof of that. They're supposed to get two sourcebooks and a whole new spinoff game out this year as part of the kickstarter fulfillment, which is only what, six or seven years late now?

 

[RenleyRenfield]

I think one that hit a good amount of its books and deadlines was Prowlers and Paragons?

Anyone keeping up on that game and its many updates?

 

[Professor Murder]

So if you were asked "What is the go to Superhero RPG?" what would be your answer?
Champions, probably? Yet it keeps slipping in and out of publication.
It just feels to me there is always a vacant throne for "Default Superhero RPG." Superhero and TTRPG booms both ongoing over the last decade plus, someone trying to claim the crown only makes sense?

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I think one that hit a good amount of its books and deadlines was Prowlers and Paragons?

Anyone keeping up on that game and its many updates?

Yeah, AFAIK they did fine with their KS. Many do. Probably most do. But many don't either, and I've walked into enough of them I no longer do crowdfunding no matter who's involved. I'll just wait and buy if and when it actually gets done.

Their release schedule seems to have dropped off in the last year or so, but it got plenty of support and still seems popular, at least going by its "actual play" presence online.

Solid system, although it feels slightly derivative of the stuff from Four-Color Studios at times. That's probably just because they use dice very similarly and I've been playing Scott's stuff for over twenty years now, so P&P is the new guy by comparison. Which reminds me, he just dropped another super(villain)s rule set for more evidence of us having a bit of a boom going.

So if you were asked "What is the go to Superhero RPG?" what would be your answer?

"There isn't one, the genre is way too broad for any one game to work for even a majority of people, much less everyone."

 

[Professor Murder]

Yeah, AFAIK they did fine with their KS. Many do. Probably most do. But many don't either, and I've walked into enough of them I no longer do crowdfunding no matter who's involved. I'll just wait and buy if and when it actually gets done.

Their release schedule seems to have dropped off in the last year or so, but it got plenty of support and still seems popular, at least going by its "actual play" presence online.

Solid system, although it feels slightly derivative of the stuff from Four-Color Studios at times. That's probably just because they use dice very similarly and I've been playing Scott's stuff for over twenty years now, so P&P is the new guy by comparison. Which reminds me, he just dropped another super(villain)s rule set for more evidence of us having a bit of a boom going.

"There isn't one, the genre is way too broad for any one game to work for even a majority of people, much less everyone."

(Just responding to the final line, which was a response to "So if you were asked "What is the go to Superhero RPG?" what would be your answer?")

The lack of an industry standard is in part why the genre of TTRPG hasnt yet penetrated the general consciousness. Or to put it another way, if a non-gamer came to me and said, "I am digging Superhero media and culture and have never played an RPG before. What's the game to play?" I don't have a good answer. And the flame of curiosity can be easily snuffed out. People have many legit gripes with D&D, but it's ubiquity is what makes it a good entry point into the hobby for the overwhelming majority of people. There is no gateway superhero rpg.