Help for running Super Heroes game

[DragonLancer]

I've had some interest from players at my FLGS for a super hero RPG. I'v decided that if I have enough players who can commit to it that I'll give it a try. My problem is that I've never been very good for the Supers genre. I had design and handle scenarios for fantasy, sci-fi and horror games with no trouble at all, but Supers are a problem.

So I need some good advice to help me prepare. So far we will be using the now OOP DC Universe game, being a select mix of DC, Marvel and homebrew characters and ideas, set in Gotham City - one of the players is not an experienced roleplayer but is a Batman fan, and has expressed an interest in playing in that city.

All advice and suggestions greatfully excepted.

 

[Crothian]

First off: What type of Super heroes game? A Batman like Gotham adventure is way different from something akin to the X-men which is different from the silverage stuff. Are you going to have anti heroes and dark heroes or is is this going to bevery black and white? Super Heroes like fantasy can go a lot of different ways.

 

[DragonLancer]

First off: What type of Super heroes game? A Batman like Gotham adventure is way different from something akin to the X-men which is different from the silverage stuff. Are you going to have anti heroes and dark heroes or is is this going to bevery black and white? Super Heroes like fantasy can go a lot of different ways.

What I'd like to do with it, is keep it more in feel with Batman and Gotham. So it will be dark. It will be more Batman dark hero style than bright all action X-Men.

 

[brehobit]

I'll tell you the things I've done wrong in supers.

Not every fight needs to be close. Let the supers, even in a batman sorta-thing, just flat out crush the opposition from time-to-time. In D&D I try to keep the fights "interesting" but in Supers, sometimes the players need to be reminded they _are_ super.

Backstory, backstory, backstory. More than any other genre the character's backstory should be a major driver of the plot. Comics have a tradition of the weird and wacky relationships between heroes, villains, and everyone else. Think bad soap opera. In other games I try to have an overarcing plot that comes to dominate. In supers you _can_ and should do that, but let the backstories play in as much as you possibly can.

What I've done right is the big plot thing with non-plot events (think Babylon 5) that occur intermittently, the government being difficult to deal with even when you are helping them, and lots of detailed, interesting, and re-occurring PCs.

In most supers games the characters don't advance as quickly as D&D (3.x in particular). So the players don't enjoy combat as much (trying out new things and fighting something much tougher than last week). So other things matter more. Horror probably has the same thing going (as does some fantasy such as Rolemaster, Runequest, Hero, etc.) but I find it to be really different than D&D (even 2nd edition and before). That said, interesting villains that do interesting things are fun!

Mark

 

[DragonLancer]

One problem I have faced in the past has been vigilantism. While thats not a problem, especially for what I have in mind, what normally happens is that the players end up killing the villains rather than bringing them to justice. Perfectly acceptable character choices, but I find that difficult to deal with after the fact whilst still keeping a level of realism. I mean, the big bad returning from the grave is a classic from comics but you can't do that with every villain they face. Plus, on top of that, I find that players in Supers games have a greater level of "I'm better than anyone else" mentality (A D&D example being the 10th level fighter who feels that he can do what he wants because he's the hero and more powerful than the 1st/2nd level city watch).

 

[WayneLigon]

Hmm. Running a game in Gotham is difficult if Batman is still around since he really doesn't much like other capes in his territory. Which of course is a perfectly good reason for there to be more heroes in Gotham: he's gone. Or dead. Or crippled.

Robin, Nightwing, Batwoman, Catwoman and a handfull of others will be trying to stem the tide, but it's just not enough. Thus, they find others and invite them in via Oracle (or whoever's taken up that position, if anyone; otherwise, Alfred is the perfect go-to man for this).

I like the new map way better than I did the old one in the DCU game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

You might want to look at Dark Champions, Mutants and Masterminds or even GURPS (since this is going to be a low-level supers game); any of them do the 'Batman' level of crimefighter better than the DC RPG; it tends to break down a bit at the lower end and most of the stats and such wind up the same.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I agree with the: Let the players know that their characters are Super once in a while advice. And it sounds like you're already aware of the biggest problem with Super RPGs: The players who still have the "We kill it and take its stuff" mentality. Monologs, your villians gotta have them. So make sure there's a rule, even if you have to add it yourself, that allows them to get them out without someone kicking them in the 'nads!

 

[Seeten]

In D&D you create "Locales, and populate them with creatures, like a dungeon" and have the pc's end up there. In Supers, you create "Villains, with motives, and goals, and populate the villain with mooks and minions" and then let the heroes and the villain intersect where thematically appropriate. With Detective work, if they are batman types. If they are Justice League types, the foes get to be flashy, and you go meet them head on.

But rather than building a dungeon, or whatever, I concentrate on who, and what, the bad guys are, and work from there. Sometimes, a location comes up, sometimes, its the city street.

 

[DragonLancer]

Hmm. Running a game in Gotham is difficult if Batman is still around since he really doesn't much like other capes in his territory. Which of course is a perfectly good reason for there to be more heroes in Gotham: he's gone. Or dead. Or crippled.

Robin, Nightwing, Batwoman, Catwoman and a handfull of others will be trying to stem the tide, but it's just not enough. Thus, they find others and invite them in via Oracle (or whoever's taken up that position, if anyone; otherwise, Alfred is the perfect go-to man for this).

Thats my plan. Batman has vanished and no one knows what happened or where he's gone. Just one night he wasn't there. Thus, as you say, it allows the new heroes to rise up and help stem the tide.

I like the new map way better than I did the old one in the DCU game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_City

Thanks.

You might want to look at Dark Champions, Mutants and Masterminds or even GURPS (since this is going to be a low-level supers game); any of them do the 'Batman' level of crimefighter better than the DC RPG; it tends to break down a bit at the lower end and most of the stats and such wind up the same.

The reason I'm using the DCU system is simply because I own it and a couple sourcebooks including the Gotham City sourcebook. I already have it to hand and I only need one Supers rules.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Villany Amok is an excellent all purpose sourcebook for all super hero genres with examples in Hero games terminology. Perfect for someone new to the genre or just wishing to get reaquainted with villain motivations and standards.