Superheroes

"It's a bird, it's a plane...", "With great power comes great responsibility", "In brightest Day, in blackest night", "It's clobberin' time", "Criminals a cowardly superstitious lot".

Superheroes are something I really enjoy. Superhero stories are modern mythologies* and just great stories, anywhere from revenge fantasies (Punisher) to the stories of everything that is good and great about the ideals of man (Superman). I love comic books, I love superhero movies, and novels... but my greatest love for the superhero comes from putting myself into their place - superhero roleplaying games.

Note - the rest of this post is a "look at me, look at what I have" but what is a blog but an excuse for ego anyway. :)

I play a lot of superhero RPG. I've been playing Champions since 1985 and really haven't stopped since. I play other things occasionally, and I've run Fantasy, but my primary love is the superhero. And because not all the stuff that is great belongs to one company** I collect superhero roleplaying game. I play HERO/Champions, but I steal the good bits from other stuff. I don't do licensed games - if I want the stats for superman, I'll build him myself.

So anyway this is a list of what superhero RPG stuff I have, in no particular order, with commentary.

Champions/HERO. - Only the greatest RPG system ever written. I have every book from every edition (including the one rarity - Wings of the Valkyrie). However the 5^th ed Champions universe has a tone and flavor I don't really like - some bits are great, but overall it tends to dark, and a little bland.

Mutants and Mastermind - I detest the system, but the source stuff is great. The Freedom City universe is very very well written and has a great flavor and tone. The characters are a little too clear on who they are ripping off from the comics, but I can overlook that. And some of the originals are great.

Gurps Supers - the setting was okay, although the IST was a liberals dream, so I generally ignore that part of the world. A number of very cool characters, and one organization in particular - Supertemps; a temp agency for people with superpowers - a low level brick for demolition or construction work, speedsters for couriers and such. I've used them in every game I've run since I read the book.

Heroes Unlimited. Palladium system gah! But the stuff Bill Coffin wrote was top notch. Gramercy Island is the perfect dark/iron age super prison. Century City and is also great.

Godsend Agenda (I have the d6 stuff). Interesting world, assuming lots of alien influence in our world.

M& M Superlink - these are third party support for Mutants and Mastermind. Stuff is hit or miss, as it comes from a number of publishers. The Blackwyrm games stuff (Algernon Files, and Fires of War) are some of the best superhero supplements published - and they are releasing HERO versions too!!

Silver Age Sentinels - a sadly dead game. Very nice source stuff. Decent system. The company went under during the implosion in the last few years. I loved the tone most of all - they were not kidding with the "Silver Age" moniker.

Brave New World - Sucky system, and it was a metaplot driven, hostage release format (ie very important info is spread through all the books, to force you to buy them all). Other than that, a very nice alternate earth in a serious dystopia.

Aberrant - White Wolf. Ugg. These people can't have any characters that don't get problems from using their powers. Setting is interesting, if a little bleak, and has great elements to steal. Also metaplot driven.

Godlike/Wild Talents - Interesting system, and Godlike has an amazing setting. Not traditional superheroes by any means, but a really cool idea for superpowers in WWII.

Villains and Vigilantes - a classic. Lots of simple characters. I love that. And a lot of adventures to mine for idea. I use a number of them.

Champions New Millennium - Fuzion system ick. Setting was okay, art was way to 90s. But had a couple of nifty twists on the Champions.

Blood of Heroes. Uses the system from the original DC heroes game, so that is pretty good. The characters are hit or miss, but some of them are very nice.

Supersystem - a wargame rulebook, but they have HERO stats in one book, and that makes other characters easy to convert.

Superworld - had a couple of modules, and I thought they were pretty decent.

Heroes and Heroines- bad. But I saw it cheap.

Foundation: A world in black and white. One of the early d20 non fantasy efforts. Game system and power rules suck. Most of the characters suck, world is bland. Was later marketed as a PDF with the "Worst reviewed game" as a selling point.

Cosmic Enforcers. Has a Palladium look to it, and again, I got it because it was cheap.

Capes - not a roleplaying game as advertised, but an exercise in communal storytelling. I hated it's precepts.

Heroes Forever - my most recent purchase. Interesting cheaply made game, and the source stuff has a few gems. Of all the stuff mentioned this is the only one I don't have the entire line for.

* If you haven't read David Brin's Thor Meets Captain America, go right out and do so right now. It is collected in River of Time.

Or you can read it online here.

** there are even some good things from Marvel right now, amazingly enough.