Simple Superhero Systems

[Gradine]

I recognize that the title of this thread may be a bit of an oxymoron, but bear with me for a second.

I'm going to be running a bunch of one-hour lunch-break one-shots in a couple of different systems to get folks excited about role-playing games. I was running through the list of major genres in my head, and I have most of the majors covered (horror, heroic fantasy, dark fantasy, and sci-fi), but I realized I would be remiss to skip out on doing a superhero game.

I can understand why most, if not all, superhero games might lend themselves to very complex character creation systems. But the case being that I'm going to offering a bunch of pregens, are there any good superhero systems that are easy enough to just pick up and play? Assuming that my player base is probably going to be 50%-50% completely new to RPGs vs. having some experience with them.

 

[Thomas Bowman]

You know Dungeons and Dragons would make a great Superhero system, especially if you drop rules on catastrophic damage and use them in a D20 Modern setting, using D&D rules where ever pertaining to the PCs but D20 Modern rules when dealing with NPCs, and start the PCs at above 1st level, how about 10th level, so they can take several direct hits with firearms and only lose hit points.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Champions! has long been a great superhero RPG, but a notoriously complex one to build characters in. Briefly, in the 90s, there was a spin-off system 'Fuzion' and it had a super-powered gladiators mini-game, called WildStrike!, but I doubt you could find it...

If you've already subjected them to D&D or any other d20 games, you could use Mutants & Masterminds.

 

[Nagol]

If you're offering pregens, I'd seriously looks at Champions. The crunch is all upfront during character design. Gameplay is straightforward.

Otherwise, I'd suggest Smallville or Marvel Heroic Role Playing Game if you can find them (I think Weis lost the publishing licenses, but I could be wrong).

 

[Doug McCrae]

Masks, a 2017 Ennies nominee, seems a decent choice. It's about young superheroes like Marvel's Runaways.

The ones to definitely avoid would be HERO System Champions and Mutants & Masterminds as they are both too complex I think for a one hour introductory session.

 

[Doug McCrae]

If you're offering pregens, I'd seriously looks at Champions. The crunch is all upfront during character design. Gameplay is straightforward.

I respectfully disagree. I've only experienced a single combat encounter lasting three sessions in one system and it was Champions.

 

[billd91]

I'd probably go with Mutants and Masterminds over Champions for a game that was run over lunch times. Champions combat, while it follows some fairly straightforward principles, can run long and be fairly complex. Mutants and Mastermind's Toughness Save system allows me to run 2-3 fights in the time it would take us to run Champions combat vs typical supervillains.

 

[Nagol]

I respectfully disagree. I've only experienced a single combat encounter lasting three sessions in one system and it was Champions.

Duration does not necessarily equal complexity.

Champions combats can get long if there are a lot of active agents on the field. The worst combat time in Champions I've had, in over a decade of running it semi-weekly, was when I tried to run a demonic incursion event with literally dozens of demons, law enforcement officers, the superheroes, and other active agents all battling it out. I do not recommend using that sort of scenario without some method of compartmentalizing or hand waving the situation.

The only other situation I can think of where the combat goes long is when one opponent's defences are so high that it is almost impossible to hurt them. If you're using pregens, it is an easy trap to avoid.

 

[Tony Vargas]

If you're offering pregens, I'd seriously looks at Champions. The crunch is all upfront during character design. Gameplay is straightforward.

True as far as it goes. Make everyone speed 4 and you don't even have to bring the speed chart (cool though it can be) into it. But, if you're not an old hand at Hero, making said pregens is probably more than you'd want to tackle.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nobody loves HERO more than I do, but that isn’t the system I’d use for this. The thing is, I have lots of superhero games*, and I don’t think any of them are truly simple.

However, I bet you could run a good low-powered supers game using the Cypher System. It may not handle Superman or The Hulk, but your more common street vigilantes and modest superheroes would probably be doable.




* off the top of my head, HERO, M&M, Silver Age Sentinels Tri Stat, Aberrant, Underground, Brave New World, Heroes Unlimited, and Godlike for sure, maybe others.