Superhero Week: 10 superhero RPGs battle it out

We’re halfway through superhero week for 2012 and it’s about time we dug out the roleplaying games.

RPGs have given superhero genre plenty of attention over the years. We’ve had some fantastic games. Which is your all time favourite superhero RPG?

Check out the list below. Is your favourite game included? Leave a note in the comments below. While you’re at it – rate the games you’ve played and we’ll see how they stack up to the superheroic competition!

Heads up: License products – like the Marvel and DC RPGs aren’t included.

Aberrant by White Wolf



Published in 1999 (with a d20 edition in 2004), Aberannt is set in 2008 and 10 afters super powers started to appear. It’s the middle setting in the Trinity Universe timeline, between the pulp game Adventure! and before the psionics game Trinty/Aeon.

Brave New World by AEG



The game was first published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group in 1999 and then picked up by AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group) a year later. Brave New World is set in an alternative America which has become a fascist state, stuck under martial law since the 60s. Brave New World draws on Kingdom Come and Batman for influence.

Capes by Muse of Fire Games



Capes in an indie RPG by Tony Lower-Basch. Players decide which character they want to play before each new scene and runs without a GM. Players take on the roles of villains as well as heroes and compete to tell stories, earning story tokens which can be used to influence the game.

Champions by Hero Games



The first edition of Champions came out in 1981 and was one of the first games that let players use a point-based system to build characters rather than dice rolls. The current edition of the game (6th ed, 2010) uses the Hero System and was written by Aaron Allston.

GURPS Supers by Steve Jackson Games



The current edition of GURPS Supers (4th) is written by William H. Stoddard with the longtime GURPS Line Editor Sean Punch with overview. As with all GURPS titles, GURPS Supers needs the main GURPS rulebook and then provides a layer for the superhero genre.

Hereos Unlimited by Palladium Books



Heroes Unlimited, now in its 2nd edition, is written and created by Kevin Siembieda. It allows players to create a wide range of superhero characters including those compatible with the space fantasy Rifts.

Mutants & Masterminds by Green Ronin



M&M is a multiple ENNie winning hero game that published first in 2002 and then again in 2005. The game was first published under the Open Game License – although it was originally designed to be a full d20 System game. Characters in Mutants and Masterminds don’t have a “character level” but have a “Power Level” instead.

Silver Age Sentinels by Guardians of Order



Inspired by the classic “four-colour” series from DC and Marvel, Silver Age Sentinels was published in 2002 as a Tri-Stat system and then, just two months later, as a d20 version. It was designed by Stephen Kenson, Mark C. MacKinnon, Jeff Mackintosh and Jesse Scoble.

Superworld by Chaosium



Created by Steve Perrin (Basic Role-Playing and RuneQuest) in 1983, Superworld uses the traditional Chaosium Basic Role-Playing with the addition of powers. Characters by generic effects, as they do in the Champions model, and then modify them through Advantages and Disadvantages.

Mutant City Blues by Pelgrane Press



Set in a world after the “Sudden Mutation Event” players take on roles as the elite “Heightened Crime Investigation Unit”. These are the detectives who must deal with crime in a world where 1% of the population has been given super powers. This means 1% of all criminals.

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  • Lowell Francis

    No Villains & Vigilantes? That’s weird. ICONS has also gotten a good deal of attention.

  • Scott

    I’d vote for Marvel Heroic from Margaret Weiss first and ICONS second.

  • http://about.me/andrewgirdwood Andrew Girdwood

    Actually – yes. Both the core Marvel and DC games are glaring in their absence. My bad.

  • http://twitter.com/JonathanLHoward Jonathan Howard

    I was always fond of Games Workshop’s “Golden Heroes” (dreadful name, nice game) — the “frame” system did a remarkably good job of helping the players visualise complex bits of action. My all time favourite, however, remains Mayfair’s “DC Heroes” 2nd ed. So many nice ideas in there, notably the unified unitary system, the exponential scores (both innovations that M&M has taken on), and the gorgeous concept of Omnigadgets, vaguely defined but expensive gadgets that only become sharply defined when you use them. Need some Bat Shark Repellent? Hey, it was on your utility belt the whole time. Sort of “Schrödinger’s Gadget” — it could be anything within its stat range from a stun grenade to a dead cat. Using it collapses its waveform and it stays as that subsequently. Simple, elegant, and very true to comic books.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Dawsey/100000668047043 James Dawsey

    Where are Marvel Heroic and ICONS?

  • http://twitter.com/JasonDurall Jason Durall

    Marvel Super Heroes (SAGA edition) not represented? Wow.

  • http://about.me/andrewgirdwood Andrew Girdwood

    Should do a separate one for the licensed titles… what about the field guide to superheroes?
    http://www.geeknative.com/28062/vigliance-press-tease-new-field-guide-to-superheroes-volume/

  • http://about.me/andrewgirdwood Andrew Girdwood

    Took the decision not to include any of the “license” products; Marvel, DC, etc.

    May have been the wrong call – might do a separate head-2-head later. Do you think that would be worth it?

  • MD

    Shocked not to see Marvel Super Heroes (TSR), the greatest supes RPG of all time. FASERIP, snitches!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=77203333 James Orr

    Wild Talents, or Necessary Evil (running on Savage Worlds)

  • http://www.facebook.com/PaulHThornton Paul Thornton

    Yup, necessary Evil for me. Simple system that lets you get away with, um, I mean, do so much cool stuff.

  • http://twitter.com/McWolfe McWolfe

    You have missed heaps of games that deserve a place in the list.
    BASH
    Supers!
    Wild Talents
    Necessary Evil
    Icons
    Truth and Justice
    Squadron UK (Formerly Golden Heroes)
    Godlike

    (and I’ve probably missed some as well).

    I would rate most of them higher than most of the games on the list above

  • http://www.facebook.com/nick.rintche Nick Rintche

    I have to vote for Champions for the years of enjoyment and great characters from Canadian Shield to Dr. HorrorShow.

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