Superhero RPGs
What is a Superhero Roleplaying Game?
Roleplaying
games are games where the players take the roles of fictional characters
in a story. Usually one player takes the role of gamemaster and creates
a loose plotline or storyline, setting up the situation and conflicts.
Each player usually controls one character, except the gamemaster, who
plays the roles of everyone else in the fictional setting. A superhero
roleplaying game is a specific genre which recreates traditional comic
book superhero tropes, characters, and plotlines.
This website concerns itself mostly with traditional tabletop superhero roleplaying games like Champions and Mutants and Masterminds. Computer superhero roleplaying games (like City of Heroes) also exist, but they're beyond the scope of this website.
The best known setting for roleplaying games is the traditional fantasy hero type roleplaying game, and the best known game set in that genre is Dungeons and Dragons. Superhero roleplaying games are similar to Dungeons and Dragons, only set in a comic book superhero fictional universe.
Superhero Roleplaying Game Systems
The
game system is the set of rules that governs the action in a superhero
roleplaying game. Characters in roleplaying games are made up of
statistics which determine what the character can do in the story. These
statistics also determine how well the character can achieve these
things. A superhero character in a superhero roleplaying game with the
"flying" superpower will have some kind of rank or score in that power
which determines how fast she flies compared to another superhero with
the same power.
Superhero Roleplaying Games Overview
Superhero 2044
The first superhero roleplaying game was called Superhero 2044 and was published by Gamescience in 1977. The game was published as a 36 page, 8 1/2X11 book. Donald Saxman authored Superhero 2044. The game included a futuristic post-war setting that included superheroes. Superhero 2044 only saw one published supplement, Hazard, which was little more than a map published by Judges Guild. The game saw little success and disappeared from the market quickly.
Villains and Vigilantes
The
first superhero roleplaying game to see a large audience was
Villains
and Vigilantes. Jack Herman and Jeff Dee authored Villains and
Vigilantes, which saw its first printing in 1979. The authors
released a 2nd edition of the game in 1982. Villains and Vigilantes
was published by Fantasy Games Unlimited and saw several
published adventures and supplements. The game remained in print until
1987, and adventures for the game are still available at the publisher's
website.
Champions
Hero Games published Champions in 1981, and for years, it was the most popular superhero roleplaying game in existence. Champions is still in print and is now in its fifth edition. Champions was one of the first roleplaying games to allow players to create their characters with a point-buying system instead of using a random character generation system.
Marvel Super Heroes
TSR published Marvel Super Heroes in 1984. The game was written and designed by Jeff Grubb and gave players the opportunity to play characters from the Marvel Comics universe. Two other games featuring characters from the Marvel universe included the SAGA system, which was also published by TSR, and the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game, which was one of the first diceless superhero roleplaying games.
DC Heroes
Mayfair
Games published DC Heroes in 1985 as a superhero roleplaying game
set in the DC universe. Players could play specific comic book
characters like Superman and Batman or create their own character which
also inhabited the DC universe. A 2nd edition was released in 1989, and
a 3rd edition was released in 1993. The rules system is now featured in
a non-setting-specific game called Blood of Heroes.
Mutants and Masterminds
Steve Kenson created a superhero roleplaying game loosely based on the d20 system. Green Ronin published this game under the title Mutants and Masterminds in 2002. Mutants and Masterminds has become hugely popular and is possibly the most popular superhero roleplaying game system on the market today. A second edition of Mutants and Masterminds became available in 2005.