Simple Superhero Systems

[aramis erak]

I remember getting a very, very bad impression of FASERIP from the Gamma World version.

The Gamma World version has a different granularity than the MSH/AMSH one. Some loved it, some hated it, and it broke the AD&D compatibility for that edition/

Same granularity issue for Zebulon's Guide for SFAD; further, ZG lacked the skills for SFKH.

Conan, MSH and AMSH worked rather well. Conan well enough that there's a retroclone of it: ZeFRS. MSH/AMSH is retrocloned with FASERIP.

 

[Mallus]

Full disclosure: my favorite superhero systems are Mutants and Masterminds (2nd), Champions (3rd, maybe), and the original Marvel FASERIP. That said...

... I'd check out Masks. Not familiar w/it personally, but my group has just started reading another Powered by the Apocalypse game -- Spirit of 77 -- and the mechanics are simple and really quite clever.

I think I was put off by PbtA games because I tried to start with Dungeon World. While it's probably a great system, the book is roughly 300 pages too long (or at least it seemed that way).

 

[1d13]

Venture City, which is powered by Fate Core would be easy to convert to Fate Accelerated to make a simple super system for lunchtime activities.

My work group uses Fate Accelerated for most of our lunchtime games and we manage to squeeze our games into the lunch hour.

 

[pemerton]

Capes seems like it might be the right system for this.

From experience I can recommend Marvel Heroic as very easy to build colourful pre-gens for, that are pretty easy to get into and play. Or just use the ones that come with the game.

 

[Dynel]

I would suggest Savage Worlds. It's a pretty easy system, in an of itself. Simple enough to play theater of the mind, yet has enough complexity to allow for distinct characters and concepts. With SW being a point-based system, it allows for different levels of super hero power levels, depending on the power level of game you want. I don't think it does Galactus-level supers that well, but it's great (in my opinion) for low to mid-level supers games. The Super Powers Companion is a must have, but the Core book and the SPC will run you about $30. I've run quite a few supers games using SW (including playing in a great City of Heroes themed game at Gen Con) and it does a great job mechanically and thematically capturing the genre.

 

[GlassJaw]

Since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, I'll recommended my favorite superhero RPG - and one of my favorite RPGs of all time - the DC Heroes RPG 3rd Edition by Mayfair.

It's long out of print so a little tricky to track down but well worth it. It puts Mutants & Masterminds, Champions, Marvel, etc to shame. I haven't seen another superhero RPG that evens comes close to handling the power differences of heroes so well.

The superhero genre has always been troublesome for RPGs. The widely varied nature of powers is incredibly difficult to model. Most systems I've seen require massive amounts of house-ruling and hand-waving because some characters will simply be ineffectual next to others right out of the gate. Not so for DC Heroes.

I'm not sure I would describe it as "simple" though; it's probably somewhere in the middle in that regard. Character creation is point-based so it can be time-consuming for those new to the system. They provide a lot of stats for iconic heroes so you can jump right in with those.

The only "con" is that the core mechanic requires a table lookup so it can be a bit slow at first while everyone gets a handle on it.

 

[Afrodyte]

Venture City, which is powered by Fate Core would be easy to convert to Fate Accelerated to make a simple super system for lunchtime activities.

My work group uses Fate Accelerated for most of our lunchtime games and we manage to squeeze our games into the lunch hour.

I second FATE Accelerated. The great thing about it is that it's also very adaptable, so you can easily change the Approaches to more closely fit the genre and characters of superhero stories without worrying about the whole system crashing.

 

[Afrodyte]

Also, Freeform Universal (FU). It's short and free!

 

[Gradine]

I second FATE Accelerated. The great thing about it is that it's also very adaptable, so you can easily change the Approaches to more closely fit the genre and characters of superhero stories without worrying about the whole system crashing.

I'm actually already planning to use FATE Accelerated for me sci-fi genre one-shot. The lineup that I think I've got set up is:
Dread (Horror)
Masks (Supers)
The Veil (Cyberpunk)
Blades in the Dark (Heists)
FATE Accelerated (Sci-Fi)

I ran D&D exclusively last summer so I wanted to take a break from straight fantasy and see if I can draw in some new players by showcasing different genres.

Edit: The fact that three of those are PbtA, and that my partner might also be running PbtA games (Monster of the Week and/or Monsterhearts 2) will probably be a big help as well, as it'll let newer players build on their knowledge if they sign up for multiple sessions (I'm aware that Blades in the Dark is more PbtA-esque, but a lot of the basic principles remain the same).

 

[ajanders]

I second FATE Accelerated. The great thing about it is that it's also very adaptable, so you can easily change the Approaches to more closely fit the genre and characters of superhero stories without worrying about the whole system crashing.

I love FATE and FATE Accelerated dearly, but with the wrong group it turns into endless debate about the exact connotations of words in your traits. And unfortunately, I don't think you can find out you're playing FATE with the wrong group until about four sessions in. If this is a casual pickup game you might, oddly enough, want something with more structure, not less. With less you have to make up your own structure.