What's your favorite superhero TTRPG and why?

[ss2art]

Anyone try Golden Heroes. You rolled up random powers, then had to design your origin to make sense of how they fit together. If you could not, you loss power. Your action in a round was what you could do in a comic panel. Never played, but rolled up a lot of characters.

I have read Savage World Supers, but not played. Any feedback?

 

[ss2art]

Anyone try Golden Heroes. You rolled up random powers, then had to design your origin to make sense of how they fit together. If you could not, you loss power. Your action in a round was what you could do in a comic panel. Never played, but rolled up a lot of characters.

I have read Savage World Supers, but not played. Any feedback?

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Tie between MSHAS ( Classic Marvel Forever - MSH Classic RPG | Home Page ) and SUPERS! ( SUPERS! Revised Edition | hazardstudio )

Marvel Super Hero Advanced Set (re: the "FACERIP" version of 1986) is my go-to for anytime I want to run a Marvel game, obviously. Being able to run games down at the Punisher and Daredevil level, up to X-Men, and even beyond, like Silver Surfer level cosmic games can be done...and done well! Absolutely amazing RPG! Almost no complaints over the last 35 years of running it.

SUPERS! I only 'recently' (maybe 5 years ago? bought his as a PDF. Gave it a skin, then it sat there for a year. Found it when board one day, started digging into it more...and was blown away! WHY didn't I read it when I first bought the dang thing?!? (stupid brain doing stupid brain stuff! ). This system handles the low to upper-mid range of Super Hero'ing better than MSHAS (FASERIP), IMNSHO (take that, acronyms!). I ran my brother, his wife, and one of his friends through a quick game using Tabletop Simulator. He/they were, at first, only luke-warm with the system as they made characters and made simple checks. But once they got into combat against a group of about 30 'mooks' (just some fish-guy fin-soldiers), the magic happened! My bro's "ninja-punisher dude" was attacked by six of them. With one single "action roll", he leveled ALL of them and still had an attack left! He though the might only be able to take out 2 of them (one for each attack), but that's not how it works in SUPERS! You have to read the rules to appreciate the genius of how the system works for this. Seriously. Go buy the PDF. Now!

Honorable Mentions:
DC Heroes (the Mayfair version, using the ... 'Action' system? The one where a score of 4 is twice as good as a 3, or half as good as a 5; the 'original' one?). We used this for, well, DC heroes games. We only played a handful of them...we were all more of Marvel fans...and the system was "odd feeling" when playing. I mean, "I can do it, I can lift 200 lb...well, more like 3200 lb if I REALLY try!" O_O But when you want the ridiculous power levels of DC heroes, it's a nice system.
Heroes & Heroines. Wow...this is a ...system. Uses dice as it's main thing...where you're rolling all manner and number of them. Might be 1d20 to hit, then 3d6 + 2d8 for damage...or 1d20 to hit, then 9d10 + 40 for damage, etc. One thing you will do a lot of...roll dice! It is 'world agnostic', but it DID put out two (?) supplements; one was for using "The Maxx" as a setting (brownie points for anyone who knows who The Maxx is/was), and one for...some other offshoot comic. Heroes & Heroines was going to, supposedly, get licenses for various Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, etc (all the "underground" or "non-main stream" comic book companies that were all the rage in the early/mid 90's)...but then, well, yeah. Crash! The system was nothing to write home about, but it did have a certain "charm" to it...it's own "feeling", which was nice.
^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Morrus]

Anyone try Golden Heroes. You rolled up random powers, then had to design your origin to make sense of how they fit together. If you could not, you loss power. Your action in a round was what you could do in a comic panel. Never played, but rolled up a lot of characters.

Golden Heroes was my first supers game! Haven't played that in a loooooooong time! I can barely remember it, but I do recall rolling randomly for powers.

 

[Marc_C]

Only played one. Villains & Vigilantes in the mid 90s. Quirky.

I've looked at Mutants & Masterminds but never pulled the trigger to buy it. Is it any good?

 

[Jay Murphy1]

The Maxx was my favorite in my first year of college back in 92-93. Smoke a bunch of weed, listen to Bowie, read the latest Maxx, and tried to stay awake long enough for some of the cute girls to come crawling through my window. It paid to have your own pad as a freshman. Just bought the first issue again at the local comic store out of mad respect for the good old days.

It was the only comic which reminded me of all the Heavy Metal mags I read in the 80's.

 

[ccs]

I guess the closest it'd come would be Marvel Superheroes (advanced) by TSR.
At least that's the one I've had the most fun with over the years.
But honestly I don't think I've found a favorite yet.

 

[Umbran]

Ditto. I had more fun with MSH than I have with any other super hero game I've played since then.

I have to agree. The system isn't perfect, but it is a lot of fun.

 

[John Dallman]

Anyone try Golden Heroes. You rolled up random powers, then had to design your origin to make sense of how they fit together. If you could not, you lost the power.

A friend showed me the system, and I got half-way through a character, but was not developing an interest. I have never been into superhero comics.

The only superhero campaign I played was Champions, starting as 3e and converting to 4e part-way through. The characters definitely weren't mutants with random-looking powers: we had super-advanced scientists, magicians, the current Lord Greystoke, a member of a Russian vampire family, a half-Frost Giant who'd got frozen in a glacier for thousands of years and children of various pantheons.

 

[Aldarc]

My preference is for systems that are good at having the Hulk and Hawkeye play at the same table without much worry about power levels because it's generally more about narrative power. So generally systems like Fate (e.g., Venture City, Wearing the Cape, etc.), Cortex Plus/Prime (e.g., Marvel Heroic Roleplay, etc.), or even PbtA (e.g., Masks, etc.).