Gurps or Hero for supers game?

[Splurch]

I was thinking about running a Supers game and was wondering what system you guys liked? I checked out Heroes and it seems like it uses similar rules to Gurps. My friends have both books so purchasing it is not a issue. Just wandering which one would you pick and why.


Thanks

SpLuRcH

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've played HERO, GURPS, M&M and many other supers RPGs as well.

IMHO, HERO is the top of the heap, and is my favorite system of all time. PC generation can be complex, but once you clear that huddle, everything a player needs to run his PC is on his sheet. Quite simply, it's the most powerful and flexible system out there.

GURPS has it's strengths, but I don't care for some of the design decisions about cost vs benefit on some powers. Still, the GURPS sourcebooks are some of the best written and you'll find them to be full of ideas and pointers for players & GMs alike.

M&M is second only to HERO in it's flexibility, and if you're familiar with other D20 games, you'll pick it up pretty quickly.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The only one of those I've played is GURPS, and that wasn't for supers. I've heard that supers isn't one of the game's strong suits, whereas with HERO, it's perhaps that game's strongest suit. Not sure.

M&M, I would throroughly recommend. And now, there's the DCA RPG (which is, basically, M&M 3rd edition) which, to me, looks even better. Time will tell.

On the lighter end (rules-wise) there are such things as ICONS and - even lighter, I believe - BASH (Basic Action Super Heroes). They both seem quite neat as well, and have devoted fans, just as do all the others mentioned.

There are quickstart / intro / basic / "lite" versions of most of those rulesets available for free, IIRC. Certainly, that's true of M&M and GURPS. Plus, you can look at your friends' books for HERO and GURPS (the full versions thereof).

Generally, the best way is to give games a look for yourself. Even better, give them a try! But, I know, that requires a lot more investment, of time if nothing else. And players can get mipatient or cheesed off if GMs constantly switch systems.

So yeah, "look, don't touch" might be best, for starters.

edit: Oh, and the other thing is forums. Not that this one isn't great - it is, of course! But the ones dedicated to each system (e.g., atomicthinktank for M&M) are excellent for info, advice, and statted up characters of any kind you can dream of, just about. Which will give you a lot of insight into how the system works and even plays. Worth a visit, any or all.

 

[Walking Dad]

I'm a big M&M fan. But if you have to choose between GURPS and Hero, I have to ask which editions?

 

[Splurch]

Gurps 4th Ed, and Heroes 5th Ed.

I've ran Gurps 1st and 2nd Ed before for an action RPG and played old Gurps Supers twice (fifteen years ago...lol). I was really wondering if Heroes was worth the effort because of the 500 + page book when it seems that it and Gurps are both 3d6 games but if the other rules in Heroes are better I'll give it a shot!
From what I can tell the Gurps book detail powers better like (power A is 50 pts and and add on power for power A is another 10 pts) where Heroes is like heres some powers find one that is similar to what you want and thats the same price and if you want tricks/other powers based on it figure out the cost with the DM.
More work while creating but more open while playing (if I'm correct).

Thanks

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

HERO could most accurately be said to list mechanical effects that you use to make powers. "Energy Blast", for example, can be used to model fire, lightning or even physical projectiles. Ditto Ranged Killing Attack.

Because there may be literally hundreds of ways to model a certain power, character creation is as intricate and complex as any game you can name. That also means that you'd be hard pressed to conceive of a power you can't model with the game. Virtually everything you need to play a game session sits in front of you on your character sheet.

And since you write down your PC's unique combinations of powers, advantages, modifiers, etc., you won't need to reference the system book again until you need to add or change a power.

 

[Croesus]

And since you write down your PC's unique combinations of powers, advantages, modifiers, etc., you won't need to reference the system book again until you need to add or change a power.

This is why I like HERO so much. I can't remember the last time I experienced a significant rules discussion during play, and players can easily run all but the most complex of characters.

Sure, creating characters is a lot of work, but once learned, is manageable. And any player who doesn't enjoy creating characters in this system can always find someone in the group (another player, the GM) to do it for them. Once characters have been created, play is incredibly smooth, IME.

 

[pawsplay]

Once upon a time, I would have recommended Hero for supers over GURPS, but as of GURPS 4e and Hero 5e, both games will do virtually any action or intrigue based type of game really well, including supers. If you are playing out of the main books, it depends on your preferences.

However, Hero has much more published sourcebooks for supers. GURPS has only the core books, GURPS Powers, and GURPS Supers. Hero, on the other hand, has whole books of premade powers, premade archetypes, and so forth. With GURPS you can make up some of the difference by using other genre books for added material. For instance, GURPs Martial Arts would be good for a martial artist, GURPS Ultra-Tech for an inventor, etc.

If you want to play Justice League, classic Avengers type stuff, Hero might be the easier path. But if you want to play supers more like the recent X-Men movies or Dark Knight, with more explosive action, and more serious consequences for using powerful abilities, GURPS might be better. There is, believe it or not, a Hellboy game powered by GURPS, as well as an older edition GURPS Supers setting called I.S.T. (I don't recommend I.S.T. except as idea mine, however; the setting was strange and the NPCs terrible).

 

[coyote6]

Between GURPS and HERO, and assuming you want to do four-color, Avengers/X-Men/JLA-style supers, I would go with HERO.

If it were more Wild Cards or Elementals-style comics, or street-level martial artists, I'd probably go with GURPS. (But HERO could do it, too.)

In years past, I've run supers games in GURPS & HERO both, and I liked GURPS better for the gritty games, and HERO better for the more traditional comic book games.

(Personally, in the first case, I'd use M&M over GURPS or HERO, for whatever that's worth. Technically, I am using M&M, as that's the main game I'm running right now.)

 

[TarionzCousin]

On the lighter end (rules-wise) there are such things as ICONS and - even lighter, I believe - BASH (Basic Action Super Heroes). They both seem quite neat as well, and have devoted fans, just as do all the others mentioned.

Icons is quite fun, but it is definitely light on the rules and prone to less serious games.

Check ICONS out at RPGnow.com.