Black Industries to Publish DC Comics RPG?

[buzzard]

One of the things I dislike about the old DC game, was that it didn't model the characters very well.

Impossible I hear some say.

For the individual character, they were fantasticly done.

As groups like the JLA, JSA, Teen Titan, etc...? No. It fell flat on it's face.

Unless your GM was extremely kind and never had Black Adam smack Batman and never had Darkseid hit the Elongated Man, it could work.

Personally I consider this 'realistic'. Comic books have to contrive things such that Darkside or Black Adam don't turn Batman into paste. Why shouldn't the game master? I mean honestly, cosmic power level baddies should be at a power level which is commensurate with what they are.

But games like Mutants & Masterminds and Champions tend to allow those 'human' style characters to fit with their super human cousins at least a little more easily.

Marvels' old system just ignored the whole problem and let your powers/points be based on your origin which could also lead to the Thing knocking out the Punisher with one shot, but was at least honest about it.

Actually I disagree. The only gripe I can see about MEGS is the lack of graininess at the low end. However the other systems don't do any better on the interactions between the normals and the godly. At best they simply chop the godly down well below what they should be. If you did honestly model someone like Darkseid in a fight with Batman, there is no other reasonable outcome than puree. I don't care what game system you use, this should be the outcome.

Actually I think I like the number scale that Champions uses more, but I much prefer the resolution system of MEGS as well as the character generation process. Champions often feels sterile and complex for the sake of complexity.

I don't really get your point about the Marvel system. What is so honest about a result that can certainly be obtained in MEGS. You design a character with a given number of points. You can even make a character just skill based. The Origins in Marvel are merely a contrivance. Granted, it has been quite a while since I've even looked at the Marvel rules, but they never did impress me.

Now I am also something of a fan of M&M, which is a good system (though I admit, I prefer MEGS). If it does end up being the system behind a DC game, I won't be upset. I rather suspect, however, that simulating Superman will be a chore. Though he's a lot less of a chore now than when MEGS was first made (shrugging off H Bombs and all that back in pre crisis days).

buzzard

 

[jdrakeh]

If it does end up being the system behind a DC game, I won't be upset.

Sadly, I can say with 98% certainty that MEGS will not be the system used for any forthcoming DC Heroes RPG, as discovering who actually owns MEGS is currently a legal nightmare (three entities that I'm aware of claim to own the system, and to my knowledge, none of them can conclusively prove their claims).

 

[buzzard]

Sadly, I can say with 98% certainty that MEGS will not be the system used for any forthcoming DC Heroes RPG, as discovering who actually owns MEGS is currently a legal nightmare (three entities that I'm aware of claim to own the system, and to my knowledge, none of them can conclusively prove their claims).

Well of course, I seriously doubt anyone would go to the trouble of resurrecting a 'dead' system. A shame I suppose, but certainly understandable. I think M&M will make for a pretty good implementation.

 

[jdrakeh]

Well of course, I seriously doubt anyone would go to the trouble of resurrecting a 'dead' system.

I dunno... Talislanta's original system has been revived twice now (once by Shooting Iron Games, and now by Morrigan Press). Ditto, MEGS, actually (once by Pulsar Games and again by the company that bought the distribution rights from Pulsar). And Champions was effectivey dead for a good long while between 4th edition and 5th edition (Thanks Cybergames!). Never count a dead system out - they have a way of sneaking back into the limelight. That said, for MEGS to sneak back into the limelight in time for a 2006 release, there will have to be some Dr. Strange weirdness involved

 

[coyote6]

IME, some people just have trouble dealing with the AP system in MEGS (& in Underground, and the similar system in TORG, etc.). I don't know why; and maybe with practice, it would be easier. But it was too high a hurdle for my group, especially with Champions (at the time) or M&M (today) available as alternatives.

 

[jdrakeh]

IME, some people just have trouble dealing with the AP system in MEGS (& in Underground, and the similar system in TORG, etc.).

I was once one of those people. The only game that used such a system that didn't trip me up was the Batman RPG (essentially MEGS Lite). I just could not wrap my head around it, so I gave up. Then, earlier this year, I picked up a used copy of Underground on a whim and *click* everything just made perfect sense on the first read-through. It was weird, as I recalled how much I had hated the same game back in 1996.

 

[buzzard]

IME, some people just have trouble dealing with the AP system in MEGS (& in Underground, and the similar system in TORG, etc.). I don't know why; and maybe with practice, it would be easier. But it was too high a hurdle for my group, especially with Champions (at the time) or M&M (today) available as alternatives.

That's kind of funny in a way. Considering that the AP system is just basic logarithms. Champions and M&M use similar systems for keeping the numbers from being too large (exponential numbers for higher power levels). It's just that MEGS used it for everything, and took advantage of logarithmic math to make your life easy.

Champions, for instance, uses a system of progression in which (at least for strength) every 5 units is a factor of two. Thus it is like APs, but five steps per AP. I'd have to check my M&M book, but I believe it is exponential advance for carrying capacity there as well.

See what the decline of the slide rule has done to us? Nobody gets logarithms anymore (not that I ever got slide rules myself, being too young for that).

buzzard

 

[Aaron L]

Hmmm, I've never even SEEN a slide rule, but MEGS just did it for me.

 

[Psion]

I find it baffling that someone would suggest that APs make things harder than champions. IME, it makes things easier. Itmakes it pretty trivial to translate powers into effects in the game world. It made it so you never had to divide or multiply to find things like travel time, distance, and so forth.

HERO does use a logarithmic scale for strength (x5 in hero = x2 in DC Heroes), they just don't use it for anything other than generating the scale.

 

[Henry]

Thanks, Aaron and Psion!

I guess I'd have to play it to get a better feel, because it definitely doesn't sound smooth to me as described. I suppose as long as you have charts for all AP's (5 APs = 1600 pounds, etc.) then it would be O.K., but it just sounds off. Then again, I never was a DC comics fan like I was with Marvel, either.