Super Hero RPG's (In General)

**Mulsiphix** · 12-24-2007, 04:29 PM

What is so alluring about Super Hero RPG's? I've never actually played one and honestly I really haven't looked into them... at all. Just wondering if they all generally are like X-Men (teams of gifted good guys fighting gifted bad guys) or if there is more too it than that? Just in general, what makes a super hero RPG so awesome to you?

**Malruhn** · 12-24-2007, 06:50 PM

Pure escapism.

The Super Hero genre allows us to identify to the characters much easier than fantasy genres, and we all really, really want to be able to do those things like fly and shoot sonic beams out of our elbows.

It's one reason that I've had problems getting into super hero games - it's too easy to see that stuff happening - and if I'm gonna waste six hours or more a week, I wanna go all out when I fantasize!!

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-25-2007, 12:25 AM

Not all super hero games require you to be a super hero. Hero system has books dedicated to be normal and some to Batman-like characters. Its mostly the setting that draws people I think. Its nice to know that you can taker a break from forests and hamlets to fight injustice in fictitious cities as well as our home stomping grounds.

**Mulsiphix** · 12-25-2007, 12:30 AM

I sure wouldn't mind playing in a Gotham themed RPG. I guess for me it just seems almost pointless to play in a world where anybody can almost be anbody/anything they can imagine. Then again I guess fantasizing about a hobbit slaying a 10 story dragon is just as fantasy as wolverine, storm, or kitty.

**ronpyatt** · 12-25-2007, 12:34 AM

Supers are legends, myths, and larger than life heroes and beings that tell us stories of the fantastic within settings from whatever world/genre/time period you desire.

There are such a huge number of super-settings and approaches to playing supers that it can be hard to sum them up into a single explanation. However, a single word can start the process of explaining what supers are all about: Exaggerated. Supers can be applied to any setting. Just add an exaggerated element to bring the setting into the world of myths and mythos. Supers can be sci-fi, fantasy, horror, dark future, or completely alien.

Gilgamesh, Beowulf, and Hercules are old super stories. Superhero RPG's let us keep the telling of those kinds of really cool stories.

Comic book superheroes can be played in a gritty and realistic setting, played tournament style (AVP), approached from a wacky and weird perspective, or like your favorite comic.

Supers are not always the heroes. The last supers game I ran, the players went the way of villains.

**Mulsiphix** · 12-25-2007, 01:20 AM

I know this is a console game but would Turok the Dinosaur Hunter (N64 versions) be considered a super? He was a rambo among Dinosaurs. I would LOVE to play in such a setting. Pretty sure Forgotten Realms had a dinosaur setting. I wish there were more dino settings in RPG's.

**Farcaster** · 12-25-2007, 02:58 AM

Its been a long time since I have played a comic book style super heroic game, but they can be a lot of fun. What I found though was that I enjoy the grittier, more realistic approach to supers games as Ron mentioned. I'm not terribly enamoured with the black-and-white evil vs. good, hero vs. villian type game. I like something that has a lot more shades of gray, and where evil is much more subtle and hard to spot.

**Mulsiphix** · 12-25-2007, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Farcaster

I like something that has a lot more shades of gray, and where evil is much more subtle and hard to spot.

Got any examples for reference? Just about any hero or hero-ish universes I can think of have very clearly defined evil characters and plot lines.

**Digital Arcanist** · 12-25-2007, 12:22 PM

Talk about shades of grey, I played as Guy Gardner once in a DC campaign. I pretty much did what I wanted and justified everything with, "I'm Guy Gardner, get out of my way." I blew up a lot of stuff but saved the world in the end and got the girl...with the help of tequilla.

**rabkala** · 12-25-2007, 03:46 PM

Isn't it funny, most everything is better with the help of tequila. Patron is my brand of choice. I guess I have had several characters whom also find love at the bottom of a bottle. Heroes are best when flawed like us.

**Mulsiphix** · 12-25-2007, 05:34 PM

Nothing touches the human heart quite like being able to personally relate to our heroes. Flaws within the idolized are usually more than evidence of humanity within great individuals. They are evidence of greatness within ourselves.

**the doctor** · 01-01-2008, 01:38 PM

In our main superhero campaign it's themed "The Last Dinosaur" In which the main pc and roiginal member of the party is a golden to silver age spandex wearing super who career really got started as the age started shifting to the leather pant and trench coat wearing anti-hero. Right around the time when he was starting to make his wayright and wrong gave way to shades of grey and the character is fighting to convert other people with basically good intent to the old era while fighting the the sea of B.S. that is masking everyone true objecting and fighting a new generation of bad guys that are no longer restrained conscience of the villains past. If this weren't bad enough he has to watch all the established golden and silver age heroes either die of old age, retire, convert or get murdered in a campaign where if the protagonist compromises who he is to fight an enemy without restraint or remorse then the campaigns over.

The Doctor

**Mulsiphix** · 01-01-2008, 03:34 PM

Anybody here remember The Grey Ghost from Batman The Animated Series? That guy was another example of what I consider a super hero that is more human than super like Batman.

**Digital Arcanist** · 01-01-2008, 05:36 PM

The Sandman, the Green Hornet, Mr. Terrific, the Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) are all examples of great heroes that weren't super. The first two being pulp heroes like the Grey Ghost.