What heroes games are there?

[zerzix]

I am very partial to the Supers20 system, based off of Modern20. It is a wonderful system that is very easy to adapt to any hero type world.

Here is a link to the posts of bad guys we have been making....

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-rules-discussion/235183-supers20-q.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-rules-discussion/240466-supers20-bring-bad-guys.html

RPGNow.com - RPG Objects - Supers 20

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

The Necessary Evil expansion for Savage Worlds is fast, furious, and fun. I recommend it, although it is lacking in some areas (emotional manipulation, f'rex).

 

[Volsung]

If you're hewing fairly closely to the Watchman vibe, where there would generally be no super powers then maybe instead of a superhero game you should look for a pulp adventure or action game.

I'd probably use Savage Worlds (Explorer's Edition), since it's quick for someone used to playing d20 to pick up and play, and its quick to prepare as the GM.

 

[pawsplay]

Watchmen does have three identified superhumans:

-Dr. Manhatten, of course
-Ozymandius, who has some kind of training/mysticism thing going on and can catch bullets, and
-An unnamed telepath

Spoiler

whose head provides the main compontent of Ozymandius's weapon

 

[Umbran]

If you're hewing fairly closely to the Watchman vibe, where there would generally be no super powers ...

I'd call it few superpowers. I think Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, and Nite Owl all have abilities and/or equipment far enough beyond human norm to be called "powers". The Comedian, Silk Spectre, and Rorschach, maybe not so much, bu tthey have above-average levels of training.

 

[Volsung]

Watchmen does have three identified superhumans:

-Dr. Manhatten, of course
-Ozymandius, who has some kind of training/mysticism thing going on and can catch bullets, and
-An unnamed telepath

Spoiler

whose head provides the main compontent of Ozymandius's weapon

True, but in an actual game these would likely become two NPCs and a McGuffin. If the PCs don't have powers, there isn't a need for a supers system.

And I think the power section in Savage Worlds is probably sufficient for any gadgeteering you may have going on.

D20 Future (and by extention the MSRD) does have SFX and gadet rules that would probably work well enough. And I imagine that a game like True20, Spirit of the Century, or the like would have a system to address your budding mad scientist (and therefore a gadgeteer).

M&M can certainly do a Watchman-style game, and do it well. I just think the prep time to payoff ratio may not be as good since you really won't be taking full advantage of the excellent powers rules.

 

[ValhallaGH]

M&M can certainly do a Watchman-style game, and do it well. I just think the prep time to payoff ratio may not be as good since you really won't be taking full advantage of the excellent powers rules.

Actually, I think this is where M&M would shine far above and beyond d20M. Since feat and skill acquisition is totally independent of level advancement, it really frees up character design.

By removing power point restrictions during character creation, you can easily create exactly the character you want. GM oversight can be simplified by having the other players also perform sanity checks on each other. With Power Level, the spirit of the campaign, and a sense of fun as the limits upon character generation, it gets pretty fast and furious for a very rewarding game.
Advancement is restricted to power point rewards and GM-dictated PL advancement.

I've found this generates skillful, veteran characters with a ton of breadth and a fair bit of depth. Very much like the Watchmen.

Savage Worlds is a pretty solid rule set, and it's much more flexible than d20M. But unless you use special character building rules, SW heroes just aren't that unique combination of broadly capable and expertly skillful that the Watchmen were. SW can do a great job with Silk Specter or even Rorschach, but it falls short of Nite Owl and Ozymandius (who did get hurt by catching that bullet). And miles short of Dr. Manhattan.

 

[pawsplay]

True, but in an actual game these would likely become two NPCs and a McGuffin.

Not necessarily. Why wouldn't Ozymandius be viable PC? Dr. Manhatten is another story, I guess. As for the telepath, if there's one, that implies there could be others. Ozymandius didn't seem to find his existence completely bizarre. So I would imagine there are a handful of people per million with some kind of useful ability, not necessarily classically "super" in scope.

 

[scruffygrognard]

Hey all. Down the road I am thinking of running a Watchmen style low power style heroes game. I am wondering what options would work?

I have M&M but find it a little convoluted/complex for what I want.
I have Heroes Unlimited but I just don't know about it.
I also have the original FASERIP Marvel but I also just don't know about it.

Any ideas? Any great systems I should look at?

Thanks for the input

The perfect game is Mayfair Games DC Heroes (3rd Edition). It's out of print BUT its underlying rules are available in the Blood of Heroes RPG.

Don't let the horrendous art throw you off because the game is great... by far my favorite "supers" RPG.

There was even a Watchmen supplement for the DC Heroes game, which works seamlessly with Blood of Heroes. Sadly it is out of print a pricey on Amazon.com.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For a Watchmen type game in HERO, you'd probably want to get your hands on either Dark Champions and/or Pulp HERO...I'm not sure if they're updated to 5Ed yet, though.