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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 8072535" data-attributes="member: 177">I'm going to wade in with a way of looking at it that hopefully addresses the practical question from the OP.Unconventional take:  whether it is "heroic" or "superheroic" has little if anything to do with the types or level of power in the characters.There are superheroes that are godlike (Superman, Green Lantern), and others who are not (Daredevil, Hawkeye).  There are characters in superhero genres that have no powers at all (like, say, The Punisher).  I know, someone will now argue that the Punisher does have powers - put a lid on that for a bit, until you see the actual point.The powers may be necessary for super hero fiction, but they are not sufficient.  The differentiators between heroic fiction and superheroic fiction is what kind of story are you telling?Superhero fiction is perhaps more clearly stated as "modern mythology".  Using sets of shared iconic characters who are larger than life in stories of grand and sweeping scope and impact.  There's very little space between the stories of the Justice League or Avengers and stories about the Greek or Norse deities, for example.  If you're hoping to tell that kind of story, with D&D, then it is superheroes.On the other hand, you have fiction like, say, the Deed of Paksennarion, the story of the life of a person, who happens to have powers.  The focus is on the real human personal journey.  If there is a grand scope, its real fictional purpose is to create an impact on the person of the hero that we can see.  Some characters who are identifiable superheroes are also used to tell heroic stories - Spider Man is such a character.  Quite frequently, a Spider Man story is really a Peter Parker story.  And then, he's heroic.</blockquote>

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