What's your favorite superhero TTRPG and why?

[pemerton]

I still remember an arrowless Hawkeye and a powerless Ben Grimm taking Klaw and Lizard out of the battle in Marvel's Secret Wars mini-series by convincing them to play patty-cake instead. (I think it was patty cake...)

I don't know that one. I remember Storm, without her powers due to having been "nullified" by Forge, defeating Cyclops to regain leadership of the X-Men. As @hawkeyefan posted also, for me a satisfactory supers game has to be able to capture these sorts of events.

 

[Staffan]

Highly random question, but still related to the OP:

Has anyone here actually played Underground?

I've played and enjoyed it, though I don't think we picked up much on the satire. For us at the time, it was mostly a powergaming exercise.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Poor Hulk and Thor constantly belittled in discussions of superhero RPGs and comparative ability!



Kidding aside, I don’t think they’re as different as you say. I mean, from a brute strength or raw power angle, sure, Hulk’s basically the apex.

But Unearthly or Class 100 Strength aside…the two characters are both shown to be effective in the comics. They just go about it in different ways.

So any game that is going to expect two characters like these to coexist should likely be designed to do so. Or at the very least, designed not to inhibit it or to screw one player over.

So if the system boils down to opposing maths and not much else, then that may be problematic. But if the system is more flexible then it should work like it does in the comics.

To give some specific examples (because I feel I must), in the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon, Hawkeye defeats the Hulk by threatening him. The Hulk laughs….and anger gone, he turns back into Banner and Hawkeye takes him into custody.

In Solo Avengers issue 12, Hawkeye does indeed defeat the Abomination. Ultimately he takes him down using an adamantium tipped arrow that releases an incredible electrical charge (designed with the intention of destroying Ultron if he ever showed up again).

And in West Coast Avengers Annual 2, Hawkeye takes out She-Hulk in a one on one battle. Basically, he keeps her at a distance, manages to knock her into water, uses some explosives to keep her from surfacing, then when she does, he hits her with a KO gas arrow just as she’s gulping air….and it knocks her out long enough for him to claim victory.

He’s pulled off all kinds of crazy things over the years. Not to the absurd level of Batman….but to me, how a game handles this kind of stuff is a huge indicator if I’ll enjoy it or not.

It’s one area where MSH from TSR kind of falters, which is a shame because otherwise that game would be nearly flawless. I’ve only played Marvel Heroic a handful of times, but it seemed less of an issue.

I agree on all points.

 

[Blue]

Well, I'm going to acknowledge here that its harder to build characters out of balance with each other in Cortex than in most games, but I have two caveats on that: 1. Harder is not the same as impossible, and 2. The reason that's the case (the compression of practical range of numbers) isn't an unmixed virtue to everyone.

You quoted MidnightBlue here and I strongly recommend you reread their posts. That is not the only reason or even the primary reason the characters balance out.

 

[Blue]

That said, I think Truth & Justice would be my pick for favorite. It has a nice balance of narrative and more traditional/old-school mechanics.

Cool, one I haven't heard of! (That's genuine.) Can you give us an elevator pitch about it? And what makes it a stand out for you?

 

[Thomas Shey]

You quoted MidnightBlue here and I strongly recommend you reread their posts. That is not the only reason or even the primary reason the characters balance out.

Except I don't see anything special about Cortex in producing the others he references. As he notes, characters should be built to concept in all games. That doesn't mean someone can't build to concept and still build something that's too limelight stealing. Its pretty trivial to build to both if you lean in that direction, and Cortex isn't immune to that.

 

[Blue]

Except I don't see anything special about Cortex in producing the others he references. As he notes, characters should be built to concept in all games. That doesn't mean someone can't build to concept and still build something that's too limelight stealing. Its pretty trivial to build to both if you lean in that direction, and Cortex isn't immune to that.

Modelling what not what he went on about, at eloquent length, in multiple posts, about why MHR does well covering different power characters and how they work in the comics - and MHR. Please, actually reread his posts about that.

 

[coyote6]

My favorite is still Mutants & Masterminds (specifically, 2nd edition). As to why I love it, I think Kenson & co. hit the perfect spot for me (given that I spent time in high school geometry class writing up Champions characters from memory).

(I kind of want an M&M edition that's based on 5e - more saving throw types, advantage & disadvantage, etc.)

 

[aramis erak]

Champions was my #1 hands down favorite. But frankly it was because I was in some really superlative campaigns of it, and the first superhero sysem I ran. Started with 2nd ed, all the softcovers, but the BBB (Big Blue Book, a/k/a 3rd) was my favorite edition. I've heard good things about FREd (Fifth Revised Edition).

Big Blue was Champions 4th, not third.

Champions 3rd Edition

Champions - 3rd Edition Softcover - front cover

rpggeek.com

Champions 4th Edition

Front Cover of Champions 4th Edition

rpggeek.com

Champions 4th to HSR 5th was mostly more concrete examples and all the FAQ elements being added, while removing some of the Champions-specific setting material.
HSR 5 to 5th REd aka FREd, mostly corrections to the examples.

HSR 5 to 6 was making all the figured atts no longer figured. It was an attempt to expand the fanbase. Most of my friends who play hero refused to even look at 6th, and continue to use 3rd, 4th, or 5REd.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Modelling what not what he went on about, at eloquent length, in multiple posts, about why MHR does well covering different power characters and how they work in the comics - and MHR. Please, actually reread his posts about that.

I read them. I've also run MHR, and I don't think its as good at that as proponents paint it as. It can come across like that because it actually has a functional system for combat-by-other-means, but that doesn't mean the characters are really able to compete with others of different power levels; it just means that there are ways to take advantage of weak areas in otherwise strong characters--but if that's the criterion, the old Mayfair DCH did that one.

So I'm pretty much disagreeing with the premise, and that's why I didn't reference it.