ValhallaGH
Explorer
General Four Color super heroics - Mutants & Masterminds (third edition by preference). Lots of flexibility, nearly infinite options (though it looks limited), easy game play (with as much 'in play' complexity as the Players and GM want to use) and no dice pools. The only real flaw is that the game is obscenely dangerous at low PLs (5 or less) - like real life, any attack can take you from fine to death's door.
Grittier, or lower-powered super heroics - Savage Worlds with the Super Powers Companion. You can still have seriously super characters, but you're Wolverine or Deadpool instead of Green Lantern or Superman. (You can ramp up to that cosmic threshold but it is a more obviously system-tweaked choice.) But it handles "street" level heroes much more readily. You could actually play a police officer in such a game and do fairly well - not fantastic, but still a useful contributor.
Oh, and almost anyone can be dropped at almost any time. That's the beauty of open-ended damage rolls.
Both systems are very easy to GM, once you get a basic familiarity with them. I strongly discourage players from playing Mimics or Shapeshifters - because those power sets require good rules mastery from the players, and change PC stats mid session in unpredictable ways.
For M&M, the whole is rather elegant, and there is certainly a way to make the powers do what you want - you can either take the time to make them do it or hand wave it and say "this happens". The beauty of the PL caps means that the GM doesn't have to work out how a power works, exactly, just what it does and what rank it is. Which lets you focus on the story. Also, Complication rock.
Savage Worlds is equally easy to GM - NPCs have whatever you say they have. Using the Super Powers Companion (SPC) complicates things some, since you have to make more nuanced rulings to keep the PCs balanced. Thankfully the truly excellent Pinnacle forums can provide great support for the harried or confused GM.
Best of luck.
Grittier, or lower-powered super heroics - Savage Worlds with the Super Powers Companion. You can still have seriously super characters, but you're Wolverine or Deadpool instead of Green Lantern or Superman. (You can ramp up to that cosmic threshold but it is a more obviously system-tweaked choice.) But it handles "street" level heroes much more readily. You could actually play a police officer in such a game and do fairly well - not fantastic, but still a useful contributor.
Oh, and almost anyone can be dropped at almost any time. That's the beauty of open-ended damage rolls.
Both systems are very easy to GM, once you get a basic familiarity with them. I strongly discourage players from playing Mimics or Shapeshifters - because those power sets require good rules mastery from the players, and change PC stats mid session in unpredictable ways.
For M&M, the whole is rather elegant, and there is certainly a way to make the powers do what you want - you can either take the time to make them do it or hand wave it and say "this happens". The beauty of the PL caps means that the GM doesn't have to work out how a power works, exactly, just what it does and what rank it is. Which lets you focus on the story. Also, Complication rock.
Savage Worlds is equally easy to GM - NPCs have whatever you say they have. Using the Super Powers Companion (SPC) complicates things some, since you have to make more nuanced rulings to keep the PCs balanced. Thankfully the truly excellent Pinnacle forums can provide great support for the harried or confused GM.
Best of luck.
