Superhero RPG w/o the kitchen sink?

[Ariosto]

There are hundreds or thousands of games each narrowed down to its own particular subset of fantasy.

The big question is which particular things you want to have in your game, and which ones you want to leave out.

The rules set is not the setting, and it is generally to the point of calling something a "superhero game" that it facilitates creating all sorts of characters not provided for in rules sets devoted to narrower genres.

So, if you just want any old kind of narrower, then you can simply pass up everything that's billed as a "superhero game".

If you have something more specific in mind, then you can pick up whatever superhero game suits you. If you don't like Power X, then don't use Power X.

 

[prosfilaes]

The rules set is not the setting, and it is generally to the point of calling something a "superhero game" that it facilitates creating all sorts of characters not provided for in rules sets devoted to narrower genres.

So, if you just want any old kind of narrower, then you can simply pass up everything that's billed as a "superhero game".

If you have something more specific in mind, then you can pick up whatever superhero game suits you. If you don't like Power X, then don't use Power X.

I don't think that's entirely fair. Mutant City Blues has rules and a chart making certain superpowers cheap together and certain superpowers very expensive when bought together. That narrowing characterizes things about the world; some powers show frequently together, and others don't. The rules of Underground also characterize the world; additional strength means additional size, with the table topping out at 14' and 1200 lbs. No Superman here! Also, each enhancement comes with how much stress it causes, and the psychosis that is caused when the stress gets too much. (And, yes, both effectively ban a set of powers that don't fit the world by not including them.) Either of these could be done in GURPS or Hero, but isn't nearly as trivial just banning a set of powers.

 

[Ariosto]

I think you will find it entirely fair if you address the statements actually made rather than forcing them through Bizarro logic.

"No superhero RPGs come packaged with very specific settings" is not among those statements.

However Mutant City Blues (or Brave New World or whatever) happens to be narrower than Marvel Super Heroes or Champions is an exception that alters not one whit the general rule.

"If you just want any old kind of narrower", then what is left fits the bill regardless of whether some superhero games might as well.

If someone wants specifically the combination of inclusions and exclusions found in Godlike, or Justifiers, or Strontium Dog, then there is a recommendation we can make.

However, if we must play 1001 Guesses, then it would undoubtedly be more efficient for someone who actually knows what his or her own criteria are to meet them through the simple expedient of declaring them to be so (which RPG GMs have been doing for decades).

 

[Hawke]

From Mutant City Blues website

GMs may wish to warn players ahead of time that Mutant City Blues discards the standard super-powered RPG design goal of allowing you to replicate any hero you find in comic books. You’ll find that you can create knock-offs of certain iconic characters but that others are impossible to reproduce.

Seems like that fits pretty well, in fact, after this thread pointed me to it I think I might have to add it on my list to try in 2011.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

The OP mentions both "setting" and "game," so I'm not sure which he actually means.

If "game," there's no reason Mutants & Masterminds won't work. Defining focus is as simple as limiting descriptors of power sources. "Okay, guys, you need to build heroes that are tech-based, mutation-based, or training-based. Magic, for instance, does not exist." You may need to scowl down a "clever" player -- "Uh, no, I don't care what the Scarlet Witch is called, her mutation is not 'magic'" -- but just as often not.

If "setting," I can't say much. When I figured out I was going to run a M&M game, I briefly toyed with limiting power sources as above, and realized that would take a lot of published M&M resources out of my game. Since I'm a big Marvel/DC fan (and their Kitchen Sink universes inspire M&M's setting), I just shrugged and decided to accept Kitchen Sinkage.