d20 Superheroes...suggestions for setting sourcebook?

[SWBaxter]

Here's my thought...back when I used to play FASERIP Marvel, one of the real advantages was that you could take anyone who knew the comics [which was everyone, back in the eighties], give them a Spider-Man character sheet, and they already knew, in a general way, what Spider-Man could do and how he acted. They knew what the Vulture looked like, they knew what Marvel NYC looked like, etc. With a created-for-the-RPG setting, there's a whole different universe to learn, and you don't have this enormous cast of characters to draw upon as needed.

That was indeed true... in the 1980s. Unfortunately, the settings of both of the major comic book companies are so convoluted now that most people probably don't have that kind of overview nowadays. That's one reason why both Marvel and DC have big cleanup events underway, and why they cycle through them around once every decade or so. Compounding matters is that even after things get cleaned up, there's at least one major crossover event every year, so even if you get lucky and catch up right after Infinite Crisis/House of M/whatever, pretty soon Spider-Man gets a pet giant tarantula or Batman marries Alfred or some other silliness, and you don't necessarily know the current situation any more. Unless you follow half a dozen or more books a week, which seems onerous for folks who just want to play a superhero RPG.

As a result, I don't actually know anyone who games in either of those settings. At best, they take it at some known point, strip out everything they don't like, and run what's left with the understanding that nothing that happens in the comic books matters any more. That's not dissimilar to the sort of homebrew pastiches you were talking about, and indeed most folks I know who have actually run a superhero campaign used their own homebrew, even if it was highly derivative of one of the major universes. It's just easier to manage that way.

 

[JPL]

That was indeed true... in the 1980s. Unfortunately, the settings of both of the major comic book companies are so convoluted now that most people probably don't have that kind of overview nowadays. That's one reason why both Marvel and DC have big cleanup events underway, and why they cycle through them around once every decade or so. Compounding matters is that even after things get cleaned up, there's at least one major crossover event every year, so even if you get lucky and catch up right after Infinite Crisis/House of M/whatever, pretty soon Spider-Man gets a pet giant tarantula or Batman marries Alfred or some other silliness, and you don't necessarily know the current situation any more. Unless you follow half a dozen or more books a week, which seems onerous for folks who just want to play a superhero RPG.

As a result, I don't actually know anyone who games in either of those settings. At best, they take it at some known point, strip out everything they don't like, and run what's left with the understanding that nothing that happens in the comic books matters any more. That's not dissimilar to the sort of homebrew pastiches you were talking about, and indeed most folks I know who have actually run a superhero campaign used their own homebrew, even if it was highly derivative of one of the major universes. It's just easier to manage that way.

Absoultely --- "they take it at some known point, strip out everything they don't like, and run what's left with the understanding that nothing that happens in the comic books matters any more." Every group that plays in some sort of established ongoing fictional universe --- Marvel or Trek or Buffy --- runs a sort of "parallel universe" version of the setting, ignoring or contradicting new events or even established continuity as they see fit, and adding new elements [the PCs and their adventures, for starters].

I dunno...maybe I'm assuming that my own personal preferences are widely shared. To me, the best option is to set the action in a relatively isolated area of the established world --- Marvel LA, for example. That way, I can bring in the Wrecking Crew or SHIELD or Rocket Raccoon if I need to, but the PCs are still the biggest heroes in town, instead of cleaning up when the Avengers, the FF, the X-Men, the New Warriors, Wolfpack, etc. are all otherwise occupied.

 

[wingsandsword]

Absoultely --- "they take it at some known point, strip out everything they don't like, and run what's left with the understanding that nothing that happens in the comic books matters any more." Every group that plays in some sort of established ongoing fictional universe --- Marvel or Trek or Buffy --- runs a sort of "parallel universe" version of the setting, ignoring or contradicting new events or even established continuity as they see fit, and adding new elements [the PCs and their adventures, for starters].

I dunno...maybe I'm assuming that my own personal preferences are widely shared. To me, the best option is to set the action in a relatively isolated area of the established world --- Marvel LA, for example. That way, I can bring in the Wrecking Crew or SHIELD or Rocket Raccoon if I need to, but the PCs are still the biggest heroes in town, instead of cleaning up when the Avengers, the FF, the X-Men, the New Warriors, Wolfpack, etc. are all otherwise occupied.

I'll agree with this, yes, current Marvel and DC continuities are mixed all up, but most people who are interested at all in superhero games know at least some version of those settings, and the details of continuity might change, but the basic concepts stay the same. They know about Gotham City or Marvel NYC, they know who S.H.I.E.L.D. is and what Star Labs is, they know to look for a copy of the Daily Bugle or Daily Planet for their morning newspaper. Even somebody who hasn't read a comic before, but has watched the Batman, Superman & Justice League animated series knows enough about the DCU to roleplay in it, for example (especially if the gaming group decides to use that version of the universe).

I don't read much in the way of comics, but from movies, TV shows and video games that I have a mental image of both Marvel and DC, much like a typical D&D fan has a view of Typical D&D Setting they know of but aren't a big fan of. You don't have to be an expert on the lore of the Realms to play in the Realms, you don't have to be a big expert on the continuity of DC or Marvel to play in those worlds.

I'll also agree that they can just set the game in another city (or a disused part of an existing city), to ensure that the PC's are the stars, and while the Justice League (or the Avengers, or whoever) might be out there, the PC's are the ones who are on-the-spot right now and have to be heroic to save the day (after all, for the zillion super-teams in Marvel, they all seem to always have stuff to do ).

The details of continuity might change, but they do that with any two fans views of a licensed product (with the convoluted and contradictory canon of Star Trek, a Trek RPG has the exact same problems, and with various views and opinions on Star Wars, that happens a lot too). At the beginning of the campaign, you just have to make sure that everybody is on the same page, and willing to play along with the GM. If there is any conflict, well, comics generally created retcons, so it's even in-genre to retcon things away in the game.

The MU and DCU are what most casual superhero fans know well, and creating some elaborate new setting as a thinly veiled take-off or based on a relatively obscure comic book isn't really what is needed. Especially given the way WotC works with d20 Modern based products, providing toolkits and letting the DM's build what they want with them (even the Urban Arcana "Campaign Setting" was just a high-magic toolkit for the game with a few setting elements thrown in, and some stuff that seemed like it was cut from the core book for space like the equipment chapter).

Now, if d20 Superheroes is added to the SRD, and somebody wants to take a chance on such a product, more power to them and I wish them well, but a niche product that small I really can't see it being WotC's style. Now, if WotC somehow bought the license to Marvel or DC settings that changes everything, a d20 based licensed Marvel or DC RPG with the backing of WotC would almost certainly be a huge hit.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

Freedom City...

I think they should just concede that the "better man" (Green Ronin with M & M) has already won in this arena and begin publishing Superlink material, thus promoting what will undoubtedly remain the superior product while still enjoying a piece of the proverbial pie... Hey, they chose to create the OGL... I think that, in doing so, they were hoping that third parties would just take care of the adventures, which WotC had deemed to be less profitable than core material, campaign settings, and rules supplements. I bet they never once considered it a real possibility that some of these companies would usurp their own credibility by producing rules supplements and gaming systems superior to those they themselves could ever hope to produce, thus raising the quality standards expected by the consumer.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I think a Modern Grim and Gritty Setting would work great with D20 Supers, especially if it fits with B&V and allows regular D20 Modern characters to play alongside superheroes. Since I have M&M to cover the classic comic book tropes, a grim and gritty modern day setting would work out great for me.

Kane

 

[Bretbo]

What I'm hoping is that WotC will cover the usual comic book settings in d20 Superheroes (at least discuss them, if not provide details) and do something "different" for a setting book.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I wonder if a setting book is even being thought about. They haven't done one yet (except for Urban Arcana, and that was a setting in the loosest of terms), so I wouldn't expect one.

Kane

 

[RangerWickett]

Somebody should license the now defunct Providence from XID Creative. I've honestly never seen another supers RPG setting that smashed prec-conceptions like Providence did - Supers in High Fantasy was a great idea that deserves to be revisited.

I've never heard of this, but I was just about to suggest a similar thing. Fantasy superheroes would be great. Actually, way back when I helped write Four-Color to Fantasy, the sample setting I used for some of the iconic characters was a weird neo-Enlightenment fantasy London.

Our protagonist was an elvish eco-terrorist who dedicated herself to crime-fighting after a magical accident in a steel refinery granted her super powers akin to Storm from X-Men. The sample villain was Tinker Oddcog, a gnomish inventor who stumbled across a Cthulhu-esque machine from the elder ages, and after listening to the voices in the device, gained the ability to animate machines and use them as his minions.

Since then, I took this setting, and have in my own mind at least integrated it with the setting of Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth, so that fey England is a land of industrial revolution and superheroes. The setting originally was intended as "Men in Black" meet fantasy, but now the Men in Black are also keeping secret the existence of superheroes.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I voted Modern - but what I think of in that catagory is almost "neo silver" the kind of stuff the Kurt Busiek and Geoff Johns write - or Ultimate Spiderman or UFF. That kind of a feel.

 

[arscott]

I'm a favor of having one city with a history that spans the late thirties to today (or even beyond), so that I can pick it up and run a golden age mystery men campaign, a silver age superteam campaign, or a Grim and gritty modern day campaign, all with equal ease.