So I’m looking for advice from you guys on a subject in which I have little knowledge.

So I’m looking for advice from you guys on a subject in which I have little knowledge.

So I’m looking for advice from you guys on a subject in which I have little knowledge. The only super hero rpg I’ve played was Mutants & Masterminds. That system used conditions in place of standard hit points. My question is, what do other super hero systems use to track health and what do you guys think are the best methods for doing so? Do you think hit points could work if done properly? Also, is there a pbta system out there that handles an Avengers-like setting well? I’ve heard Masks is good for teenage super heroes, but I’m wanting to run an established group of heroes.

16 thoughts on “So I’m looking for advice from you guys on a subject in which I have little knowledge.”

  1. On the more story-gamey side I have heard great things about With Great Power. On the more traditional side I have heard good things about Marvel Heroics.

  2. On the more story-gamey side I have heard great things about With Great Power. On the more traditional side I have heard good things about Marvel Heroics.

  7. It depends on what you want to do. I used to play Mutants and Masterminds almost exclusively because it can model a wide variety of powers and abilities very effectively, and if you and your group are interested in a bit of number crunching it can have a lot of appeal.

    Icons offers variety with the injection of gonzo weirdness to the character creation, a bit like the old Marvel FASERIP, and offers a slim system that is pretty easy to pick up. I have not looked at it for a bit, but as I recall characters have levels of health. Conditions would be applied through powers.

    Masks emphasizes the social relationships between the characters, and the powers in that system primarily function to give the character narrative permission for different acts. It is not exclusively focused on young heroes, though the system is designed with them in mind. Damage is a bit different in that whether you are seriously injured or taken out is more of a narrative question than a mechanical one, but the infliction and overcoming of conditions (which are both physical and emotional) is a core mechanic.

    The now-discontinued Margaret Weis Marvel game is fantastic if you know and love the Marvel characters, balancing crunch and narrative very nicely, but you really have to have the expertise to play established characters and the interest in using a system that uses xp for narrative development rather than powering up a character. In that game you have 3 “health” meters for your physical, mental, and social well-being. As you take damage you gain penalty dice, and will be taken out if one of them gets full.

    Of these I personally prefer Masks, but in all honesty I am not certain most people heavily inclined towards superhero stories would prefer it. I suspect it is better at introducing story-gamers to the potential of playing superheroes.

  8. It depends on what you want to do. I used to play Mutants and Masterminds almost exclusively because it can model a wide variety of powers and abilities very effectively, and if you and your group are interested in a bit of number crunching it can have a lot of appeal.

    Icons offers variety with the injection of gonzo weirdness to the character creation, a bit like the old Marvel FASERIP, and offers a slim system that is pretty easy to pick up. I have not looked at it for a bit, but as I recall characters have levels of health. Conditions would be applied through powers.

    Masks emphasizes the social relationships between the characters, and the powers in that system primarily function to give the character narrative permission for different acts. It is not exclusively focused on young heroes, though the system is designed with them in mind. Damage is a bit different in that whether you are seriously injured or taken out is more of a narrative question than a mechanical one, but the infliction and overcoming of conditions (which are both physical and emotional) is a core mechanic.

    The now-discontinued Margaret Weis Marvel game is fantastic if you know and love the Marvel characters, balancing crunch and narrative very nicely, but you really have to have the expertise to play established characters and the interest in using a system that uses xp for narrative development rather than powering up a character. In that game you have 3 “health” meters for your physical, mental, and social well-being. As you take damage you gain penalty dice, and will be taken out if one of them gets full.

    Of these I personally prefer Masks, but in all honesty I am not certain most people heavily inclined towards superhero stories would prefer it. I suspect it is better at introducing story-gamers to the potential of playing superheroes.

  9. In terms of PbtA, there’s my continuing work-in-progress Just Heroes, which is designed to create an Avengers-like vibe of separate heroes who sometimes come together to fight bigger problems.

    It uses a pretty basic hit point system, but heroes can easily recover from all but the most lethal wounds if they take a moment to rest and there are other options to use in combat, depending on what superpowers the heroes have.

    Check it out here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1iTjRUomaBXQ1htN1NSREFVaVE&usp=sharing

  10. In terms of PbtA, there’s my continuing work-in-progress Just Heroes, which is designed to create an Avengers-like vibe of separate heroes who sometimes come together to fight bigger problems.

    It uses a pretty basic hit point system, but heroes can easily recover from all but the most lethal wounds if they take a moment to rest and there are other options to use in combat, depending on what superpowers the heroes have.

    Check it out here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1iTjRUomaBXQ1htN1NSREFVaVE&usp=sharing

  11. Truth & Justice uses the PDQ system which, near as I can recall (and Richard Rogers​ can probably explain better than me), had damage deduct points from your stats (which are descriptors you choose for your character, rather than traditional Strength/Dexterity/etc).

  12. Truth & Justice uses the PDQ system which, near as I can recall (and Richard Rogers​ can probably explain better than me), had damage deduct points from your stats (which are descriptors you choose for your character, rather than traditional Strength/Dexterity/etc).

  15. One of my favorite superhero RPGs is SUPERS! Revised Edition. The way it works is that, like West End Games’ D6 system, your attributes are assigned a number of dice. (SUPERS! only uses D6es, as well.) If you take damage, you temporarily lose one or more dice from a chosen attribute. (For example if you have 4D in composure, you can choose to reduce it to 3D, which means that any check you make with that stat will be rolled with 3D6 until you heal.) If any one of your attributes is reduced to zero, you are out of the fight. (You can choose how to apply that narratively. Maybe you’re knocked unconscious; maybe you run away because you’re too frightened to stay.)

  16. One of my favorite superhero RPGs is SUPERS! Revised Edition. The way it works is that, like West End Games’ D6 system, your attributes are assigned a number of dice. (SUPERS! only uses D6es, as well.) If you take damage, you temporarily lose one or more dice from a chosen attribute. (For example if you have 4D in composure, you can choose to reduce it to 3D, which means that any check you make with that stat will be rolled with 3D6 until you heal.) If any one of your attributes is reduced to zero, you are out of the fight. (You can choose how to apply that narratively. Maybe you’re knocked unconscious; maybe you run away because you’re too frightened to stay.)

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