>I know superhero games aren't the most popular these days, but I know that >enough listmembers have experience in this area they might have some >insights. > >My crew around here has been itching for a superhero game, a good >old-fashioned four-color (or as reasonable a facsimile as this crew can pull >off, anyhow). The problem...what system? We refuse to use GURPS Supers, >because we aren't THAT silly. Champions would be ideal, but it's math >intensive, and while some of us can handle it, we have one or two relative >novices in the group who would be lost. The more free-form alternatives >also came up (i.e., the old Marvel Super Heroes, which we still have copies >of floating around), which would be great for the inexperienced crowd, but >would drive the more experienced folks (and the GM) into the asylum. Even >Aberrant would work, if techno-types didn't get shafted so badly (and it >wasn't so tied to its background, and...) > >So the question is: Does anybody know of a good "general audiences" set of >rules which could pull off the genre flexibly, without requiring a >scientific calculator? Or are we just plain screwed?i have played MSH, MSH advanced, Providence, Underground, GURPS, Deadlands, TMNT, and several of the WoD games. i have merely read DC Heroes, Champions, CORPS, Sol, Theatrix (though we have a Theatrix 4-color supers game in the works--did chargen last time), Aberrant, Brave New World, DL5A, and Xena&Herc. i not only can't stand GURPS, i think it's a fundamentally flawed system. i find that both CORPS and Sol cover the same ground, and then some, in terms of appropriate genres/settings, and do it with a tenth the complexity and a tenth the pagecount. and with less need to add more stuff just to extend it to a new genre. i can't stand the Storyteller system, even with the revisions found in the latest games. while it produces fewer outright bogus results (such as the likelihood of spectacular failure going up with increasing skill in difficult situations), it still fails several necessary tests for a game system, for me. most importantly, it's not simple enough to reap the benefits of a simple system (fast, easy use, deferring to narration over mechanical interpretation), nor is it detailed enough to reap the benefits of a detailed system (specific results, high mechanical verissimilitude), but it is able to reap most of the shortcomings of both extremes (lack of detailed or specific results to guide the SG, too much effort for simple task resolution). i find Champions too much game for 4-color supers. i want as little interference from the mechanics (and as little reference to them) as possible in that genre, even more so than in most. GURPS is worse (at least Hero provides the right results, even if it is too much effort to get them, IMHO). CORPS is passable, but, like GURPS, it doesn't work well for genres with low lethality or wide ranges of power (though it's better on both counts). it would be great for a pulp-level supers game. i *would* recommend getting ahold of Providence and taking a look. you probably only want the Main Rule Book, for your use. it's a pretty great system with some of the advantages of a dicepool system but more mathematically sound than many. and a good selection of superpowers which seem well-balanced and -defined in our (admittedly) limited experience. and it runs a good middle ground in the complexity, IMHO--not as numbery as Hero or GURPS with lots of options, but a step or two up from Brave New World or MSH. -- Nat Barmore nbarmore@students.wisc.edu ph.:6082513090 ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
