d20 Superheroes...suggestions for setting sourcebook?

[kroh]

I use to love those annuals! I still have a G.I.Joe one from back in the day that has a retraction that they printed that Rocky Balboa was not a part of the team ( because they tride to make it so.). Weird.

The marvel charcter profiles were great.

Regards,
Walt

 

[Teflon Billy]

Astro City, Astro City, a thousand times Astro City!!!

 

[Ranger REG]

A question that I have is what are you looking to get out of such a setting book? To my mind, official conversions are most of what I'd want out of any supplement to a d20 Superheroes book. And to my mind, that comes in three flavors:

1) Marvel
2) D.C.
3) A Specific Title (ex:Invincible, Supreme, Tom Tomorrow, Astro City, etc.)

I dunno. It's one thing the customers want, it's another thing when it comes to licensing properties. Of course, my personal feeling about this is I truly do not want Marvel and DC to profit from licensing to RPG. Marvel screwed up theirs big time, and thus far someone else have DC's RPG licensing.

WotC is better off following Hero Games and Green Ronin's approach and offer their own setting book. They don't owe anyone royalties except themselves, and d20 Modern -- like Palladium's Heroes Unlimited -- don't really fit appropriately for Marvel and DC universes.

 

[Kheti sa-Menik]

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.

The problem is that very few people agree with this hypothesis. Personally, I cannot stand M&M. There's nothing groundbreaking about it and it is a poor representation of a superhero game. Heck, the old Marvel RPG was a more cohesive game than M&M. Even Champions is better than M&M.
I think whatever D20 Superhero is, it will be a better game than M&M, unless of course WOTC goes with the same team that did D20 Past, then it will be a toss up as to what would be the worst product.

A setting book would be pretty cool. The old Marvel RPG's Deluxe Campaign City set was one of the best RPG supplement/setting books for a superhero RPG there has been.

 

[Ranger REG]

The problem is that very few people agree with this hypothesis. Personally, I cannot stand M&M. There's nothing groundbreaking about it and it is a poor representation of a superhero game. Heck, the old Marvel RPG was a more cohesive game than M&M. Even Champions is better than M&M.
I think whatever D20 Superhero is, it will be a better game than M&M, unless of course WOTC goes with the same team that did D20 Past, then it will be a toss up as to what would be the worst product.

I beg to differ. MnM is better and easier to get into than Champion, IMHO. As for d20 Superheroes, I don't think it's anywhere in the league of Champion and MnM. They're better off competing against Palladium's Heroes Unlimited, which I personally would love to kick the snot out of Kevin Sembieda's work.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Green Ronins' Freedom City?

 

[Bretbo]

There's nothing groundbreaking about it and it is a poor representation of a superhero game.

Many comic book superheroes use their powers in new and interesting ways. Fire-using heroes, for example, are frequently seen doing all kinds of crazy things: creating smoke screens to both obscure and/or suffocate, create dazzling light, fly, encase their bodies in flame, shoot explosive fire-balls, ect. I remember a scene where the Human Torch created a flame cage and imprisioned a foe. These effects could not be modeled as a whole in most systems because the character would be too expensive. MnM has developed the idea of having the base powers (maybe Energy Blast and Flight) and spending a Hero Point to allow for a one-time use of a similar power not represented on their character sheet or expand the abilities of a power. As far as I know, no other superhero game has model this option; at least not as elegantly. To me, thats' gound-breaking!

 

[JPL]

Many comic book superheroes use their powers in new and interesting ways. Fire-using heroes, for example, are frequently seen doing all kinds of crazy things: creating smoke screens to both obscure and/or suffocate, create dazzling light, fly, encase their bodies in flame, shoot explosive fire-balls, ect. I remember a scene where the Human Torch created a flame cage and imprisioned a foe. These effects could not be modeled as a whole in most systems because the character would be too expensive. MnM has developed the idea of having the base powers (maybe Energy Blast and Flight) and spending a Hero Point to allow for a one-time use of a similar power not represented on their character sheet or expand the abilities of a power. As far as I know, no other superhero game has model this option; at least not as elegantly. To me, thats' gound-breaking!

MSH FASERIP [Advanced Edition] had power stunts a good 15 years back. Whether they were as elegant or not is a matter of opinion, I guess.

 

[C. Baize]

MSH FASERIP [Advanced Edition] had power stunts a good 15 years back. Whether they were as elegant or not is a matter of opinion, I guess.

I dug them, quite a bit.

 

[Bretbo]

MSH FASERIP [Advanced Edition] had power stunts a good 15 years back. Whether they were as elegant or not is a matter of opinion, I guess.

Yes, but not on the fly. Unless you had it written on your character sheet, you couldn't use it until you gain enough experience to buy it. At least as far as I remember, its' been a while. FASERIP does have a good and elegant system, totally agree there!

The fact that MnM has a system for allowing "on the fly" expansions of a power is, IMHO, a innovative mechanic.