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Author Topic: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?  (Read 4512 times)

FF_Ninja

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Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« on: October 28, 2021, 05:14:59 AM »
A knock at your door. When you open it and peer outside, there's no soul in sight, but a parcel - heavy and rigid, wrapped in nondescript paper, and labeled with your name - has been placed on your welcome mat.

You retreat into your home and cautiously unwrap the package, revealing... a brand-new Superhero-themed RPG? The cover portrays caped heroes and dastardly villains locked in mortal, cosmic combat while a city burns in the background. The back of the book promises everything you ever wanted in a Supers book, and much more.

Curious, you crack open the book and peruse its contents...

  • What elements are you expecting to find - elements you consider mandatory for a Superhero RPG to be worth your trouble?
  • With the basics covered, what topics and concepts specific to Supers-themed environments are you hoping to discover have been fleshed out in the game?
  • Finally, as you finish reading through the book, what are some bits you're glad aren't present in it - either topics that weren't covered or aspects that were left undefined?

Chris24601

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2021, 08:57:09 AM »
I expect something pretty similar to this… https://www.d20herosrd.com/ … but with fixes to the few janky rules bits and some sort of default setting with some pre-built hero and villain examples.

A real necessity though is explaining the differences between the superheo genre and what makes a fun ttrpg (ex. heroes regularly split the party, get beaten, captured or mind-controlled or lose their powers for significant lengths of time, etc.). There’s a huge difference between what’s fun to read about and what’s fun to play as.*

If they were really being ambitious, the book would include some system quick-building opponents and a means beyond adding raw levels to enable major villains to challenge whole teams without just overwhelming them (which is what tends to happen in the above if you just add power levels to villains… stuff akin to legendary/lair actions in D&D 5e or the tricks added to Solos in D&D 4E in MM3 and later).

At this point the formula for superhero games is pretty established; the only question is where you put the dial on complexity vs. speed of play. HERO/Champions is on the extreme of complexity, something based on FATE would probably fit the fact that most people interested in comic rpgs are looking to emulate a genre/storytelling more than a hard and fast setting. Mutants & Masterminds falls somewhere in the middle.

* If you do want to play more of the tropes straight, I’ve found going more Claremont X-Men level and having each player actually have 2-3 PCs is the way to go; when one of two or three PCs succumbs to the beating, capture, mind control, etc. it’s less disruptive to the fun as you aren’t essentially sidelining the player for vast swaths of a session just to match genre expectations.

FF_Ninja

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2021, 09:54:05 AM »
I lean towards developing unorthodox ways of handling common situations. If a certain aspect of gameplay is boring or alienates some of the players, then it needs to be revisited and redone. If, as the tropes tend to suggest, group-splitting and PC-bashing is a fairly regular and necessary occurrence at Superhero tables, and if that's often seen as odious or tedious, then it needs work.

One thing I try to do is reward players for what I consider to be "quality" play - and quality might not be what we tend to think it is. Getting beat down and "defeated" isn't any more or less valuable than kicking an enemy's face in and saving the day. The former might feel "worse" and the latter might feel objectively "better" but that's mainly because we're preconditioned to superimpose reality onto our games. Something I learned years ago in roleplaying as a whole is that there's no such thing as bad outcomes, just wasted opportunities. In fact, one significant game element - character death - is such anathema for many gaming groups that DMs will bend over backward to avoid it; I personally consider character death neither penalty nor a poor outcome, but instead a valuable resource that is oftentimes squandered tragically.

Hailing back to my original statement of rewarding players for playing their characters and their roles well, aspects like "loss" and "sacrifice" are not only necessary contrast to victory (and in fact often sweeten it in the end) but opportunities to create some truly iconic moments in a character's story. Comics (and other Superhero literature) are chock-full of twists, turnabouts, tragedies, and triumphs: All Might is at the limit of his strength when fighting a seemingly superior Nomu, until his heroic spirit surges forth defiantly and he demonstrates the true nature of "Plus Ultra"; Bucky Barnes went missing in action during a valorous sortie in WW2, later coming back as the brainwashed Winter Soldier; Goku seems all but beaten and defeated by Frieza, when he finally reveals the legendary "Super Saiyan" power which hasn't been seen in generations; Tommy Oliver lost his Green Ranger powers during a final, fatal conflict with Rita and Lord Zed, only to return later as the redeemed, more powerful White Ranger. All of these heroic and iconic moments were sweetened by their contrasting defeats.  These setbacks were fundamental to the value of the production, in fact - otherwise, you'd have a never-ending cycle of beneficial and victorious outcomes that would get samey and boring - like a Superman that never met an opponent he couldn't easily trounce, or a problem he couldn't easily solve, or a sacrifice he couldn't easily avoid.

My idea is to gamify that cycle.

I'm still in the drawing board stage, but right now I'm envisioning a sort of short-term currency that players accrue when they act true to their character's spirit, lore, motive, or nature, and especially if it puts them at significant peril or loss. This currency can be used as momentum to pull off some iconic turnabouts or incur favorable plot twists - and if/when the "worst" happens and significant, permanent loss occurs, I want to look at developing some "The End...?" or "To be continued..." mechanics to fuel the game forward. If a player wants to let a character's story come to a fitting end (at least, for now!), it should have a measurable impact on the world and the whole gaming table - even cascading to new characters or new plot points further down the road in the current or later gaming sessions.

It's not uncommon to see these kinds of events and outcomes occur in standard RPG fare, but I want to take a crack at developing these iconic, legendary hooks into an actual game mechanic.  I'm already taking a different approach to the typical "kill and loot" cycle you might find in your standard grindy OSR environment - compiling things like contacts, favors, blessings, special items, resources, uniques, etc. together as "Boons" that are collected through gameplay (in much the same way as loot and gear would be collected by your typical D&D adventurer). In a similar vein, I think it won't be too challenging to represent tangibles and intangibles caused by significant setbacks and sacrifices.  I look forward to the challenge, actually.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2021, 10:01:46 AM by FF_Ninja »

hedgehobbit

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2021, 04:05:36 PM »
I'm still in the drawing board stage, but right now I'm envisioning a sort of short-term currency that players accrue when they act true to their character's spirit, lore, motive, or nature, and especially if it puts them at significant peril or loss. This currency can be used as momentum to pull off some iconic turnabouts or incur favorable plot twists

If players gain a currency by intentionally putting their character in peril but can spend that currency to get the same character out of peril, I don't see the benefit of putting such a system in the game in the first place. It looks like it will just go around in circle and leave the players back where they would have been had they chosen to do nothing (which, IME, is what happens most of the time anyway).

I guess the issue here is that in a comic, Batman is always trying to solve the case and capture the villain before that villain can do too much damage. Batman isn't deciding to intentionally put himself in peril or cause himself some significant loss. Those events come naturally during the course of the story. All of this type of story mechanics causes the story to move in unnatural ways with individual players sabotaging the group to gain points while the rest of the party typically has to pay the price to make up for it.

Habitual Gamer

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2021, 05:28:46 PM »
What elements are you expecting to find - elements you consider mandatory for a Superhero RPG to be worth your trouble?

First and foremost: it supports -my- ideas.  HERO, M&M, GURPS Supers, and even the Fate version of Kerberos Club all do a wonderful job of giving me a toolset to make dang near anything I could want, no matter how absurd.  Ghost aliens?  Sure.  Magical cowboys?  No problem.  Giant mecha pilots?  Doesn't matter if the mech is the giant or the pilot is, either way a good system will have me covered.  Games like Aberrant and AMP and Godlike rein things in, requiring players to share a common origin, but they provide a solid framework to support me within their constraints.  I won't be making any vampire samurai in Aberrant, but I can make a bio-manipulating master swordsman for example.

That said, IMO, the best supers achieve this goal of supporting player ideas by giving them effects driven rulesets (HERO, M&M) rather than exception driven ones (Aberrant, AMP).  Systems where players can design their characters' powers themselves, rather than picking from an approved list (which are of course helpfully expanded with a series of supplements you are expected to buy).     

With the basics covered, what topics and concepts specific to Supers-themed environments are you hoping to discover have been fleshed out in the game?

Honestly, M&M and HERO have pretty well done all the history and navel gazing aspects at this point.  What I like are unique new villains, organizations, and weird world aspects.  I idea mine the heck out of HERO books for M&M games for example, but you can always use a setting book as an alternate universe for example.

That said, one thing to establish early on if you're making your own setting is: is this four color or realistic?  Are you going for more of a Marvel/DC supers feel, where the status quo never really changes and the world isn't struggling from PTSD after countless near destructions*, or are you looking for more of an Astro City vibe, where heroes actually get old and retire and the average person on the street knows a charm or two to protect themselves while in "that part of town". 

Finally, as you finish reading through the book, what are some bits you're glad aren't present in it - either topics that weren't covered or aspects that were left undefined?

The more I think on it, the more a metaplot is probably a bad move.  They seldom (if ever in supers RPGs?) get finished, and really make the world feel like the publisher's/freelancer's than my own.  Like signature NPCs, world history, organizations, new nations, etc. are all good things.  But then telling me "in the next book, we blow up 90% of this stuff, but you'll have to wait to find out which" is just bad marketing and makes me feel like I'm reading a failed comic rather than playing in a game world.  It's my bias though.

(*one of these days, I keep telling myself, I'm going to work on a system free sourcebook that's nothing but super-hero apocalypses the heroes failed to stop, and what the different worlds look like afterwards.  A whole chapter devoted to supers-and-zombies for instance, exploring the difference between Marvel Zombies and the eX-Heroes novels for example, and how to work those different ideas into your own campaigns.  And then other chapters would explore more unique disaster scenarios.)

FF_Ninja

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2021, 05:32:42 PM »
I'm still in the drawing board stage, but right now I'm envisioning a sort of short-term currency that players accrue when they act true to their character's spirit, lore, motive, or nature, and especially if it puts them at significant peril or loss. This currency can be used as momentum to pull off some iconic turnabouts or incur favorable plot twists

If players gain a currency by intentionally putting their character in peril but can spend that currency to get the same character out of peril, I don't see the benefit of putting such a system in the game in the first place. It looks like it will just go around in circle and leave the players back where they would have been had they chosen to do nothing (which, IME, is what happens most of the time anyway).

I guess the issue here is that in a comic, Batman is always trying to solve the case and capture the villain before that villain can do too much damage. Batman isn't deciding to intentionally put himself in peril or cause himself some significant loss. Those events come naturally during the course of the story. All of this type of story mechanics causes the story to move in unnatural ways with individual players sabotaging the group to gain points while the rest of the party typically has to pay the price to make up for it.

You're absolutely right, sir. Done improperly, any system that rewards players for putting their characters in peril can be problematic - although, digressing here, it occurs to me that players do that all the time for experience points and loot. But, yes, that's a consideration I'm going to have to keep in mind while I design this - or any - mechanic. I may very well change my approach to what I want to accomplish, but I definitely want to the players' efforts to generate some sort of tangible momentum - even if the devil is in the details.

I appreciate your insight. It adds another consideration to the development list.

PsyXypher

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2021, 06:07:34 PM »
What I expect from any Supers RPG is a complex system on how to build powers. I feel like it's an unspoken rule at this point that you're supposed to let people build their own powers instead of giving them a big ass list of predetermined powers.

Most of them do this. Wild Talents, GURPS Supers (granted, it is GURPS), Champions, Mutants & Masterminds...probably a lot more. There are exceptions to these, like Mutant City Blues (a weird one, honestly), Heroes Unlimited (a personal favorite of mine) and Aberrant (don't get me started on that one...). I actually like the "Give you a huge list of powers instead of making you take your own" since it makes me feel like I'm looking at something tangible instead of being told "Here's a bunch of numbers, do whatever with them".

I'm doing such with my own system. Though it's not quite a Supers game if you ask me.

As for what makes or breaks a game...I'd have to say its options. Superheroes are diverse; in the real sense, not the SJW one. I could have a computer randomly select a handful of superheroes/villains and get incredibly different results, more if you include adjacent stuff like TMNT and all those different anime series that have superhero trappings. One of them would be an alien who was sent to Earth to escape their home planet's destruction (Superman, or Goku if you prefer). Another could be a mutant with ridiculous healing abilities who had adamantine surgically grafted onto his body (Wolverine) while yet another could be a teenage girl who got the power to control bugs after some really severe bullying (Skitter from Worm).

Speaking of Worm, I would recommend it.
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FF_Ninja

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2021, 06:20:26 PM »
What elements are you expecting to find - elements you consider mandatory for a Superhero RPG to be worth your trouble?

First and foremost: it supports -my- ideas.  HERO, M&M, GURPS Supers, and even the Fate version of Kerberos Club all do a wonderful job of giving me a toolset to make dang near anything I could want, no matter how absurd.  Ghost aliens?  Sure.  Magical cowboys?  No problem.  Giant mecha pilots?  Doesn't matter if the mech is the giant or the pilot is, either way a good system will have me covered.  Games like Aberrant and AMP and Godlike rein things in, requiring players to share a common origin, but they provide a solid framework to support me within their constraints.  I won't be making any vampire samurai in Aberrant, but I can make a bio-manipulating master swordsman for example.

Sensible. No one wants to play a genre that's sandbox in nature without the ability to truly customize the super they're making down to the tights, ticks, and tiara. A litmus test I use to determine if a Supers RPG is worth its salt is to take an iconic superhero from comics - Wolverine, Superman, Thor, Batman, Squirrel Girl - don't judge me - and see how accurately I can emulate them in the system. One of my favorite systems to create characters out of (although incidentally I've never had the chance to actually play it) is Heroes Unlimited. It covers just about every power, origin, and archetype you can imagine and even has roll charts for everything so you can simply let the dice create a completed character from scratch.

My vision attempts to remain fairly faithful to OSR mainfaire. While your traditional class/race/etc system is fairly archetypal and limited in terms of creativity and customization, I believe I've touched on a good basis for having my cake and eating it as well.

Players will build their characters by choosing Origins or Archetypes (haven't decided on naming convention yet, but they stand in logically for classes), such as Mutant or Bio-Experiment or Alien or Cosmic, to name a few off the top of my head. This serves to isolate the nature of their awesomeness and offers a growth template partly to determine what powers they get, but more typically how characters (and their powers) grow, change, or improve over time. Much as a D&D/PF character class grows stronger, gaining new abilities and empowering old ones, characters will acquire new powers, strengthen existing ones (and possibly evolve or change them), acquire Feat-like options to customize and compliment their existing capacity, and more through their Origin/Archetype's growth track.

Quote
That said, IMO, the best supers achieve this goal of supporting player ideas by giving them effects driven rulesets (HERO, M&M) rather than exception driven ones (Aberrant, AMP).  Systems where players can design their characters' powers themselves, rather than picking from an approved list (which are of course helpfully expanded with a series of supplements you are expected to buy).

I'm not familiar with the terminology, or perhaps your usage.  Would you elaborate on the relevancy of "effects-driven" vs. "exception-driven" here?     

Quote
With the basics covered, what topics and concepts specific to Supers-themed environments are you hoping to discover have been fleshed out in the game?

Honestly, M&M and HERO have pretty well done all the history and navel gazing aspects at this point.  What I like are unique new villains, organizations, and weird world aspects.  I idea mine the heck out of HERO books for M&M games for example, but you can always use a setting book as an alternate universe for example.

That said, one thing to establish early on if you're making your own setting is: is this four color or realistic?  Are you going for more of a Marvel/DC supers feel, where the status quo never really changes and the world isn't struggling from PTSD after countless near destructions*, or are you looking for more of an Astro City vibe, where heroes actually get old and retire and the average person on the street knows a charm or two to protect themselves while in "that part of town". 

When it comes to setting, I'm actually thinking about being generic enough to cover most of your tropes and tables/generators to draft up new ones. No sense in creating a system that's so versatile but then limiting it to, say, 60's-era capes and cowls. I'm outsourcing opinions right now to get a better idea of what kind of elements I might need to cover in the book so that the DM and players can have the resources they need to do handle whatever kind of theme and feel they want.

Quote
Finally, as you finish reading through the book, what are some bits you're glad aren't present in it - either topics that weren't covered or aspects that were left undefined?

The more I think on it, the more a metaplot is probably a bad move.  They seldom (if ever in supers RPGs?) get finished, and really make the world feel like the publisher's/freelancer's than my own.  Like signature NPCs, world history, organizations, new nations, etc. are all good things.  But then telling me "in the next book, we blow up 90% of this stuff, but you'll have to wait to find out which" is just bad marketing and makes me feel like I'm reading a failed comic rather than playing in a game world.  It's my bias though.

I couldn't agree more. I want to provide as much help in generating and simulating a system as I can to help get - and keep - the ball rolling for a GM, but I honestly feel like a preset meta-environment would be a detractor.  They don't add much and they unnecessarily alienate players who might want to do somthing different.

Quote
(*one of these days, I keep telling myself, I'm going to work on a system free sourcebook that's nothing but super-hero apocalypses the heroes failed to stop, and what the different worlds look like afterwards.  A whole chapter devoted to supers-and-zombies for instance, exploring the difference between Marvel Zombies and the eX-Heroes novels for example, and how to work those different ideas into your own campaigns.  And then other chapters would explore more unique disaster scenarios.)

Cool! Post-apocalyptical supers where "It All Went Wrong" ala Dark Sun sounds like a great environment to explore!

FF_Ninja

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2021, 06:26:21 PM »
What I expect from any Supers RPG is a complex system on how to build powers. I feel like it's an unspoken rule at this point that you're supposed to let people build their own powers instead of giving them a big ass list of predetermined powers.

Most of them do this. Wild Talents, GURPS Supers (granted, it is GURPS), Champions, Mutants & Masterminds...probably a lot more. There are exceptions to these, like Mutant City Blues (a weird one, honestly), Heroes Unlimited (a personal favorite of mine) and Aberrant (don't get me started on that one...). I actually like the "Give you a huge list of powers instead of making you take your own" since it makes me feel like I'm looking at something tangible instead of being told "Here's a bunch of numbers, do whatever with them".

I'm doing such with my own system. Though it's not quite a Supers game if you ask me.

As for what makes or breaks a game...I'd have to say its options. Superheroes are diverse; in the real sense, not the SJW one. I could have a computer randomly select a handful of superheroes/villains and get incredibly different results, more if you include adjacent stuff like TMNT and all those different anime series that have superhero trappings. One of them would be an alien who was sent to Earth to escape their home planet's destruction (Superman, or Goku if you prefer). Another could be a mutant with ridiculous healing abilities who had adamantine surgically grafted onto his body (Wolverine) while yet another could be a teenage girl who got the power to control bugs after some really severe bullying (Skitter from Worm).

Speaking of Worm, I would recommend it.

Heroes Unlimited is actually the first Superhero RPG I cut my teeth on.  Incidentally, I've probably generated hundreds of characters with it, but I've never actually played it (which might say more about my hermit existence than it does about the system, honestly). The fact that you can take a d100 and randomly generate a complete super-powered individual was a narcotic-grade draw for me. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the generated characters made sense and some of them served as the basis for really interesting heroes, villains, and story machines in my games going forward.  HU is absolutely a source of inspiration that I pull from as I work on this system.

PsyXypher

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2021, 06:38:48 PM »

Heroes Unlimited is actually the first Superhero RPG I cut my teeth on.  Incidentally, I've probably generated hundreds of characters with it, but I've never actually played it (which might say more about my hermit existence than it does about the system, honestly). The fact that you can take a d100 and randomly generate a complete super-powered individual was a narcotic-grade draw for me. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find that the generated characters made sense and some of them served as the basis for really interesting heroes, villains, and story machines in my games going forward.  HU is absolutely a source of inspiration that I pull from as I work on this system.

Heh. Glad to see I'm not the only one!
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Lynn

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2021, 07:21:22 PM »
The top thing I look for is flexibility. Superheroes as a genre tend to incorporate clones of classic superheroes. Some players want that.

However, I like a system that lets me break out of those themes if I want.

For me, the best ever superhero game is Hero System 5th Edition (with or without Champions). It is a fantastic toolkit that lets me build just about anything I want.

I did participate in the S5E kickstarter (one of several DND based superhero games) but I am viewing it more for a possible pulp heroes type game, like a souped up d20 modern. But I just don't see how a class based game is really going to give the utility of Hero System.
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FF_Ninja

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2021, 09:17:22 PM »
...But I just don't see how a class-based game is really going to give the utility of Hero System.

I agree. Typically, anyway. I tend to find, however, that too much freeform can be counterproductive to designing a good character. Take GURPS for example: the character creation potential is absolutely staggering, but the lack of innate structure all but requires the Storyteller to set limitations in order to curtail the abject chaos that is not only possible but commonplace in such an unrestricted environment.

In my design method, form follows function and structure serves as a template to foster creativity. In much the same way a blank page can be a writer's worst nightmare, poor structure in an RPG tends to be a hindrance rather than freeing. My "thinking outside the box" approach is, essentially, to take a good hard look at the box and reshape it, rebuild it, recreate it, reinvent its purpose - but to always remember that there is good reason for there to be a box in the first place.

hedgehobbit

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2021, 10:19:39 PM »
You're absolutely right, sir. Done improperly, any system that rewards players for putting their characters in peril can be problematic - although, digressing here, it occurs to me that players do that all the time for experience points and loot.

The difference with normal XP and loot in that in a D&D game, the adventure is usually set pretty much in stone with the DM knowing exactly what enemies inhabit the dungeon. But a superhero game is more give and take as the villain will react to the heroes' actions. So, there's much more chance for the GM to fudge, making up the enemy strength as needed which means that giving the heroes bonus points to succeed isn't as needed.

I'm curious is you've seen the old Marvel SAGA game that used the deck of cards? In it, you had a hand of cards that you used instead of dice. In the deck were Doom cards (named after Dr. Doom) which had the highest values but if you used those cards they went into the hands of the GM. This is sort of what I'm thinking about; players are given bonuses for each of their weakness (Aunt May, Lois Lane, Batman's code, etc). If the player uses these bonuses, then it trigger their weakness and a villain will try to use it to their advantage. This way it's the villain's action, not the player's direct decision, to cause problems for the hero team. 

Opaopajr

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2021, 10:49:04 PM »
Chris hit the nail on the head: HOW to Enjoy a Supers Conceit.

All the typical bromides for a successful dungeon crawl game ("filled with caution as death is everywhere") are tossed aside for melodramatic conceits because Heroism! Even basics, like low trust, betrayals and traps in other games need to be walked into with open eyes and arms because it is Buy In of the Supers genre. I myself still have trouble doing it.  :-[

So the mechanics, to be honest, the world really doesn't need any more. What we do need are "HOW to be a Supers Player," like "HOW to be a GM" books. We need to train players to adjust expectations and modulate behaviors to the genre.
Just make your fuckin' guy and roll the dice, you pricks. Focus on what's interesting, not what gives you the biggest randomly generated virtual penis.  -- J Arcane
 
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FF_Ninja

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Re: Superhero RPG Essentials - What makes or breaks a Supers TTRPG?
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2021, 12:46:42 AM »
All the typical bromides for a successful dungeon crawl game ("filled with caution as death is everywhere") are tossed aside for melodramatic conceits because Heroism! Even basics, like low trust, betrayals and traps in other games need to be walked into with open eyes and arms because it is Buy In of the Supers genre. I myself still have trouble doing it.  :-[

Honestly, I don't know that I can agree. That's certainly one way to play Supers, but it's certainly not the only way. About the only mandatory difference between a Supers game and a traditional dungron crawl setting is that the PCs are typically super-human. There's no reason why players or characters need to willingly be oblivious to intrigue and danger. In fact, outside of a very tropey, soap-opera-esque melodrama, I don't think that approach would ever make any sense.

If you have an argument to the contrary, I'm all ears.