Superhero RPGs

It's been a long while since I've posted here.  Too long.  I need to quit slacking and get to writing.

That being said, I'm going to try to ween myself back into writing by talking about the various superhero RPGs.

First off, I'll point out that, despite the almost generic use of the term "superhero" across much of the gaming industry, as well as the fan base of both the gaming and comic book industries, variations of term "super hero" are jointly trademarked by DC Comics and Marvel Comics.  This is true in spite of some contention from legal experts throughout the decades [quote].  But since the term has such a pop culture significance, there are few other terms to label the genre that can truly fit.  Thus, "superhero" and "superheroic" are terms generically used to describe the genre of these games.

Without further ado, I now present the games... in order of my favorites first.

Champions

First published in 1981 by Hero Games, Champions distinguished itself with its point-buy system for balancing characters as well as its use of character flaws (then called Disadvantages, currently called Complications). The system off of which Champions is based, the Hero System, has since been adopted as a universal system, applied to various other genres such as fantasy, espionage, pulp, science fiction, cyberpunk, horror, post-apocalyptic, and western. Champion's fourth edition, heralded by editor Rob Bell and an insane amount of playtesting, truly brought the game into the limelight of the gaming industry. During the latter days of the game's fourth edition, writer Steve Long would emerge to become one of the company's most reliable and consistent go-to writers.

After splitting with publishing partner Iron Crown Enterprises, Champions publisher Hero Games drifted during the 90s. For a short time, Hero Games partnered with R. Talsorian Games; the resulting brainchild RPG system, the Fuzion System, continues to enjoy a love-hate relationship with Hero System fans to this day. Online dot.com concern Cybergames then bought Hero Games (including the Fuzion-based Champions: The New Millennium), but saw little success, despite improved graphic presentation and Hero System stats for its iconic characters.

The turn of the new millenium saw a new renaissance for the Hero System. Steve Long, along with Darren Watts, Jason Walters, and a few other investors who chose to remain anonymous bought the assets for Hero Games from Cybergames and incorporated themselves as DOJ, Inc. (named after one of their pet RPG superhero teams, the Defenders of Justice). Steve Long, acting as Line Developer and primary author/architect, then heralded in the fifth edition of the Hero System. The fifth edition saw a grand amount of improvement from even the fourth edition as well as a mind-boggling amount of rules clarifications and rulings. The fifth edition proved very popular, in spite of the economic recession post-9/11, and enjoyed the success of several dozen supplements (the majority of which were for Champions).

Most recently, the intellectual property for the default Champions setting (centered on the fictional city of Millennium City) was bought by Cryptic Studios for the Champions Online mmorpg (when Sony left Cryptic Studios in the lurch by canceling the Marvel Online game). DOJ, Inc., heralded the mmorpg by publishing a sixth edition of the Hero System and a few Champions supplements to update the setting to match the mmorpg. The economic recession has finally got the better of DOJ, Inc., sadly, and it has had to ask Steve Long and Darren Watts to step down from direct employment within the company (although both continue to be co-owners of the company), leaving Jason Walters as the sole employee of the company. However, projects continue on, as Jason Walters has offered a royalty-free license to third-party publishers, of which individuals such as Steve Long and Dave Mattingly take advantage.

Mutants & Masterminds / DC Adventures

What happens if you add a point-buy character creation system to the d20 System (the system on which third edition Dungeons & Dragons is based) and then adjust the whole thing to account for the fact that you should only ever need one twenty-sided die for the whole game? You get Mutants & Masterminds.

The brainchild of game designer Steve Kenson, Mutants & Masterminds took the gaming industry by storm at a time when it had generally been conceded that it was impossible to use the d20 System for superheroic roleplaying. Other attempts had been made, to be sure. Most had kept to the formula of classes, levels, and hit points while trying to shoehorn superpowers into the mix. But Mutants & Masterminds didn't constrain itself that way. Steve Kenson took only the parts of the d20 System that he liked and then embellished it with elements inspired by other RPG systems, like Champions, GURPS, or MEGS. The result was elegant, awe-inspiring, and powered by the economic might of Green Ronin Publishing. Did I mention that Mutants & Masterminds benefited from some of the best artists in the gaming industry, since Green Ronin was willing to print its books in full-color?

Mutants & Masterminds is currently in its third edition. The second edition of Mutants & Masterminds enjoyed a spectacular run similar to the Hero System's fifth edition, with many useful and informative supplements detailing various eras of comic book history. And, like the Hero System's sixth edition, Mutants & Masterminds' third edition heralds a licensing deal. This time, the system is being used to present the latest iteration of roleplaying in the DC Universe.

DC Adventures is a four-book license that Green Ronin is masterfully playing out to its fullest. The core rulebook is exactly the same as the Mutants & Masterminds Third Edition Heroes' Handbook, except it includes sample characters and brief histories of the DC Universe. It will be supplemented by two books detailing a huge number of DC Universe's best and brightest as well as a fourth and final book detailing the DC Universe setting in and of itself.

MEGS

MEGS, which is short for the Mayfair Games Exponential System, is most famous for being the rules system off of which the first iteration of roleplaying in the DC Universe was based. The concept of the rules was deceptively simple. If your Strength was 3 and your friend's Strength was 2, you were twice as strong as your friend. And if your girlfriend's strength was 4, she was twice as strong as you. This simple "doubling per tick" concept was used for everything, from speed to time to weight to money to... well, everything. And skill contests used an easy to reference chart that used two dice to compare to two values being contested.

The DC Heroes Roleplaying Game enjoyed three editions (each with various and minor improvements) before DC Comics canceled Mayfair Games' license. A protracted legal battle ensued; Mayfair Games wanted to continue using the MEGS system to publish other games, but DC Comics believed that by license the MEGS system belonged to DC Comics. DC Comics eventually lost the legal battle, but by then it was too late. Mayfair Games, for various reasons including the legal battles, was forced to file bankruptcy and go out of business. Other companies have tried to use the MEGS system for their own game, but none of the games have enjoyed the level of success that DC Heroes enjoyed.

Fuzion System

As mentioned above, the Fuzion System came about while Hero Games as partnered with R. Talsorian Games. The Fuzion Labs Group, which at the time included the best and brightest designers from both companies, created the Fuzion System in an attempt to meld the best elements of both the Hero System and R. Talsorian Games' Interlock System together in a cohesive whole. The result was both elegant and flexible.

R. Talsorian Games went full-throttle into the Fuzion System, cranking out games licensed from popular mecha-based anime franchises such as Bubblegum Crisis and Armored Trooper V.O.T.O.M. as well as the insanely popular Dragonball Z. Hero Games attempted a renaissance of their own intellectual property with Champions: The New Millenium, trying to update their setting to the more mature sensibilities of the 90s.

While the Fuzion System enjoyed some success, it was not to last. The primary architect of R. Talsorian Games, Mike Pondsmith, took up full-time employment at Microsoft in order to pay the bills and Cybergames bought up Hero Games shortly thereafter. When Pondsmith finally did publish a Fuzion System-based version of his company's intensely popular Cyberpunk game, it met with poor reviews... Pondsmith attempted to update the flavor of the setting to modern sensibilities, which essentially killed the dirty, gritty, dystopian feel that made the Cyberpunk genre so popular. It didn't help that Pondsmith attempted to save money on artwork by photographing toy action figures instead.

Cortex Plus / Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

Okay, this one took me completely by surprise. So much so that when I adamantly confessed my confusion to graphic artist Fred Hicks, he nearly game me up as a lost cause in understanding the game's flavorful elegance. In essence, there are no "primary attributes" or anything like that. A hero's capabilities are an eclectic mix of circumstances, abilities, and fate. In essence, the hero feels like a comic book superhero rather than like a fantasy adventurer.

As mentioned, there are no "primary attributes." If the character is known for his superhuman level of agility, such as Spider-Man or Nightcrawler, of course it's noted in his power sets and can be used in die pools if appropriate. But if he only has an average amount of agility, it's never noted anywhere on his character sheet (known as datacards in this game) and is never bothered with. It is, however, extremely important how well he performs solo, with a buddy, or with a team. And distinctive traits, like Reed Richards being the smartest man on Earth, can be either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the circumstances. And a metagaming currency known as Plot Points is spent and traded freely like poker chips in Las Vegas (in fact, poker chips might prove a useful way of keeping track of Plot Points).

The most interesting part of the game (which is either damning or liberating, depending on with whom you game) is that there is no structured guidelines for character creation. If your chosen hero has a particular ability, just give it to him and don't worry about whether it balances with the other heroes in the game. The balancing factor comes not from the rules system itself, but from the sense of responsibility displayed by you and your party mates. If your friends are telling you that you're just being stupid, odds are they're right.

The game is just in its infancy, having just been published by PDF a couple weeks ago and still awaiting physical shelf life. But the Basic Game includes some very interesting sample characters, including my beloved Shadowcat, and so its gearing up to be a great game.

BASH

Now, here's a pretty little game that deserves more attention. BASH is short for Basic Action Super Heroes. The mechanics are simple. Your attributes are rated as a multiplier. For a skill test, you roll two six-sided dice and add them together. You take that result and multiply it by your attribute's multiplier rating. You then compare that result to a chart to determine how well you succeed at the task. Thus, if you have a Brawn of 3 and you roll an 8 on the dice, the result is 24 (8 x 3); you succeed at a Tough (20+) task.

BASH takes a minimalist approach to character creation. There are only three attributes (Brawn, Agility, and Mind) and the list of powers is fairly short and inclusive. While attributes and powers are bought with points, how many skills you have is dependent on your Agility and Mind. What this all means is that given familiarity with the system, it's fairly quick to create a character and get adventuring. Fights tends to be speedier than other systems, as well. On top of that, the top-notch artwork of Moretti and Chiaramonte makes the book simple yet gorgeous, giving off a well-designed "Animated Series" feel.

I sincerely hope this system gets some more well-deserved attention. It's a gorgeous game.

Tri-Stat System

Speaking of minimalist systems (or at least systems that should have remained minimalist), I can't forget to mention the Tri-Stat System. First published in 1999 as the anime RPG, Big Eyes Small Mouth, it was extremely minimalist. As its name implies, the system has three stats, Body, Mind, and Soul. All checks are made against those three stats using two six-sided dice. You want to roll under the stat's value, so the higher the attribute and the lower the roll, the better off you are. Characters are further customized by Attributes, super powers like those seen in popular anime series.

While the game was an unprecedented success at GenCon 1999 (where Mark MacKinnon ran out of copies), it saw super-stardom when licensed versions of the game were published for Sailor Moon, Dominion Tank Police, and Demon City Shinjuku. The Tri-Stat system saw even more success when the system's publisher Guardians of Order partnered with anime distributor Pioneer for licensed versions of Tenchi Muyo! and el Hazard, where graphics designer Jeff MacIntosh truly got to flex his muscles with glossy full-color presentation.

The beginning of the end occurred when MacKinnon chose to enter the ring of western superheroic roleplaying. The Tri-Stat system got restructured for the Silver Age Sentinels roleplaying game, adding a level of complexity that was conducive to western superheroic roleplaying but was anathema to Tri-Stat System fans. While SAS saw some moderate success, even being featured in a crossover adventure module with Hero Games' Champions RPG, MacKinnon's ambitions soon outstretched his pocketbook. After a minimally successful showing of a Tri-Stat System presentation of G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire setting, Guardians of Order had to file of bankruptcy and sell most of its non-IP properties to White Wolf Game Studios.

If you do wish to use the Tri-Stat System for superheroic roleplaying, I actually recommend the iteration of the rules set presented in either the Tenchi Muyo! Role-Playing Game and Resource Book or the el Hazard Role-Playing Game and Resource Book. Game designer David Pulver did a fantastic job of balancing simplicity with flexibility and stability with these two books.

Other Games

There are other superheroic games, of course. The classic Villains & Vigilantes is known for it old-school level-based goodness and Jeff Dee's exquisite artwork. GURPS Supers, in any of its iterations, can't be forgotten. Aberrant, White Wolf Game Studio's attempt at dark and adult superheroics using a version of the Storyteller System, is a fine choice if you want to play a superhero in a losing battle with himself. And there are many others. I might get into them at another time.

In the meanwhile, I've rambled on long enough. Thank you for reading.