What's your favorite superhero TTRPG and why?

[Thomas Shey]

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.

There were a number of things in 5th and 6th that were attempting to address old weak spots in Hero, and they mostly did, though in some cases (6e KA) they may have over-fixed it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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.

While I have 5th & 6th, the last edition I got to play in any really meaningful amounts was 4th. Ran my best campaign ever* in it.









* Supers using an expanded, homebrewed version of the Space:1889 campaign setting. Really caught lightning in a bottle with it, in no small part because the group had bought into it 100%. It’s been more than 25 years, and I’ve never even approached the experiences of running it.

 

[aramis erak]

There were a number of things in 5th and 6th that were attempting to address old weak spots in Hero, and they mostly did, though in some cases (6e KA) they may have over-fixed it.

4th, IMO, fixed far more from 3rd than 5th/5REd did from 4th. And the move from the standalone Fantasy Hero to the 4th ed core + Fantasy Hero splatbook was a much bigger improvement than Champions 3 to 4...

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I started with 4th ed Champions and moved on to 5th when it came out. But really, they're the same game, as has been said above. I've not made the move to 6th ed; I just didn't feel the need to. I have bought a couple of 6th ed supplements: Champions Beyond and the 3 Books of the ... Destroyer, Machine, and Empress. They're compatible enough with 6th that I can use them.

 

[MidnightBlue]

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.

It was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8...the cover that showed Spider-Man in his black, symbiote suit for the first time.

And yeah, as a Cyclops fan, I grudgingly remember powerless Storm beating Cyclops.

 

[Thomas Shey]

4th, IMO, fixed far more from 3rd than 5th/5REd did from 4th. And the move from the standalone Fantasy Hero to the 4th ed core + Fantasy Hero splatbook was a much bigger improvement than Champions 3 to 4...

Eh. I don't think I can really agree. The killing attack has been a problem from day one of the system, and the effect of Strength on distorting designs has been a thing for a long time. The EC was likely a mistake from the get-go (and I had a part in creating the damn thing).

I think 4e brought a lot of different Hero pieces together in a more coherent way, but the actual effect-in-play of changes from 3e to 4e was significantly less than from 4e to 6e.

 

[Thomas Shey]

It was Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8...the cover that showed Spider-Man in his black, symbiote suit for the first time.

And yeah, as a Cyclops fan, I grudgingly remember powerless Storm beating Cyclops.

Well, this can also get into another issue: one of the ways characters beat much more powerful opponents is massive authorial contrivance in some cases. That's also how characters who clearly would have addressed a problem all by their lonesome in their own books fail to do so in team books sometimes. I'm not sure that sort of thing is a virtue in a game.

 

[pemerton]

Well, this can also get into another issue: one of the ways characters beat much more powerful opponents is massive authorial contrivance in some cases. That's also how characters who clearly would have addressed a problem all by their lonesome in their own books fail to do so in team books sometimes. I'm not sure that sort of thing is a virtue in a game.

Super heroes are contrivance all the way down: whether that be the secret identities, or the supervillains, or the fact that Storm spends her time using her powers to fight Arcade and Dr Doom rather than responding to droughts and famines. Something like Watchmen, or Miracle Man, is an exception but that's what makes those works distinctive.

At least for my part, I want a supers RPG to emulate the comics I love.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

And yeah, as a Cyclops fan, I grudgingly remember powerless Storm beating Cyclops.

You hear about Cyclops fans but never spot them in the wild. What a treat!

 

[Thomas Shey]

Super heroes are contrivance all the way down: whether that be the secret identities, or the supervillains, or the fact that Storm spends her time using her powers to fight Arcade and Dr Doom rather than responding to droughts and famines. Something like Watchmen, or Miracle Man, is an exception but that's what makes those works distinctive.

At least for my part, I want a supers RPG to emulate the comics I love.

There's a difference, however, between "These are genre conventions that you just can't push on much" and "This worked out this way because the author wanted it to, not because of any obvious established traits of the characters". The latter often requires characters to do things they do at no or few other times in their careers, or alternatively when opposition is involved, for said opposition to suddenly lose a great degree of acumen that they normally exhibit.

Its one thing for a weaker character to take advantage of Juggernaut's psychological issues to make him do something stupid; Juggernaut has been like that from day one. Its another thing when its done against opponents who otherwise exhibit combat and other savvyness that suddenly flees because the hero needs to be the one to win this fight.

Over and above my feeling that media change what I expect from them, some things don't deserve porting over because those things aren't even virtues in the medium they're used in.