Can OSR Actually Emulate Supers?

RPGPundit · June 06, 2022, 11:19:17 PM

Is an OSR game actually able to emulate a straight Marvel/DC type superhero genre effectively? I review the Guardians RPG to find out!

zircher · June 07, 2022, 12:16:07 AM

Putting it at the same level as V&V is actually good praise. I had a ton of fun with that system in the past.

RPGPundit · June 07, 2022, 02:29:24 PM

Quote from: zircher on June 07, 2022, 12:16:07 AM
Putting it at the same level as V&V is actually good praise. I had a ton of fun with that system in the past.

Yes, well, I wanted to point out what it could be good for, not just what I think it's not that good for.

Tubesock Army · June 07, 2022, 08:54:57 PM

One of the best superhero games of all time is an OSR game, or at least OSR-adjacent. Golden Heroes, published in 1984, was basically (in author Simon Burley's own words) a re-tooled Gamma World 1e.

David Johansen · June 07, 2022, 09:49:20 PM

Does Heroes Unlimited count? It's certainly a D&D derived system and it's old. I do think V&V is a little closer. I wish they'd gone a different direction with V&V Mighty Protectors. It's a bit too much Champions though there are things I really like in there. The thing where you set a power level and it caps everything and sets how many points you get is pretty sweet.

Supers is the game genre I've spent the least time tinkering with.

Wrath of God · June 10, 2022, 07:43:43 PM

I mean if we consider as OSR - all those mechnical retroclones of old D&D then sure.
If we consider OSR more as mode of play, then I'd say nature of superhero fiction is one of less sandbox-adjacent considering superheroes are for most time reactionary defenders of status quo.

weirdguy564 · June 10, 2022, 11:43:09 PM

Sure. Everything has been done in D&D style rules at this point.

But, that doesn't make D&D style rules good. I fell In love with the Palladium series of games, with its main game mechanic of opposed rolls, and armor is treated as additional hit points. But, even that system has flaws.

Right now, if you wanted me to run a super hero RPG, then I'ld probably use Tiny D6 Supers.

Timothe · July 19, 2022, 08:44:39 PM

I've never liked D&D for any contemporary, sci-fi, or superhero games. That's basically WotC's Star Wars or D20 Modern games, and I preferred West End Games' D6 system for that.

To me the best superhero system was TSR's Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP).

RPGPundit · July 20, 2022, 07:43:15 AM

Quote from: Timothe on July 19, 2022, 08:44:39 PM
I've never liked D&D for any contemporary, sci-fi, or superhero games. That's basically WotC's Star Wars or D20 Modern games, and I preferred West End Games' D6 system for that.

To me the best superhero system was TSR's Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP).

Have you looked at Star Adventurer? Or The Invisible College? Because those were highly praised sci fi and modern-era OSR games I wrote... The D&D structure doesn't really have a big problem doing those genres, IF you know how to do them right. The Supers situation is different, because Supers has much more complex genre rules that don't port easily into the D&D model. You can make an OSR game about super-powered individuals, but in actual play it will look nothing like DC or Marvel comic books.