Kickstarter - Ascendant (Superhero RPG)

A new superpowered role-playing game of infinite possibilities.

I've always had mixed feelings about superhero RPGs. Usually, they were too many dice (Champions) or had random powers (V&V). TSR's Marvel Superheros probably hit the sweet spot, and as much as I thought I wouldn't like the color-coded charts, they grew on me and became second nature.

Yesterday, Autarch launched a superhero RPG Kickstarter - Ascendant - and it has its own color-coded chart. Heck, they forwarded me a PDF of the rules - when I'm healthy I'll delve into them - but at first glance, they look solid.

20 bucks for the PDF, 40 for POD w/ PDF, 60 for the limited HC w/PDF.

Old School Blues Podcast Episode 6 - Let's Play Supers

Woot! Another episode of the Old School Blues Podcast is up. Last night Vince, Colin and myself talked about superheroes, comic books and superhero movies and TV shows. It was a damn good time!

Join us and tell us what you think :)

RPGNow is Running a 25% of Selected Supers Titles

To be honest, I'm not a huge supers gamer. While I loved the comics when I was younger and I'm really enjoying what DC and Marvel are doing on TV and in the movies, supers as a gaming genre has never really bitten me.

That being said, I know superhero gaming has a sizable following.

RPGNow has a 25% sale going on for select superhero titles thru the end of May. Thankfully, no one has the license for Marvel at the moment, so the revelation that Captain America is a Hydra agent can be ignored...

I've Got Something to Read During the Downtime Tonight at Work - And I'm NOT Batman!

Look what arrived in the mail today! Batman, The Role-Playing Game, which is basically a condensed version of Mayfair's DC Heroes game.

Now, why would I purchase an out of print game that I probably could never get my group to play? Or if they agreed to, I'd probably owe them all beers.

You'll have a chance to hear all about it in a few weeks. Yes, I chose those words carefully ;)

Batman vs Darth Vader - Possibly the Best Fan Film I've Seen

Just watch it.

Holy Crap! - DC's Legends of Tomorrow (Justice League?) Coming to the CW in January

Who needs to read comics these days? The best of the superhero genre is on TV or at the movies.

This looks pretty damn good.

On the 19th Day of Free Holiday Gaming Swag, my Bartender Gave to Meeeeee... Four Color System (A Superhero RPG)

I think this is the first superhero RPG to make the Holiday list.  Cool

The Four Color System is the old Marvel Superheroes System with the serial numbers scratched of.  How's that for fun?  Oh, and free too ;)

MSH WAS the supers game back in the day.  Well, maybe Champions was up there two, but for the heroes you knew, there was nothing better then MSH.

I'm Not Much Into Supers, But I'm Gonna Miss The Cape

In case you missed it (and it isn't all that hard), The Cape was a mid-season replacement series that was about, you guessed it, a superhero known as The Cape.

I liked Vince, a former cop that was framed for "bad stuff" that he didn't do, who faked his death and became The Cape with the help of a circus based criminal organization.  I enjoyed the cheese.  The over the top bad guys.  River from Firefly as Orwell (I have a crush on here damnit!) was awesome.

This series crashed so hard in the ratings that the 10th and final episode is only available online.  How's that for a kick in the ballistic armor?

I never got into Superboy, Smallville, the series that stars the Commish with a family of supers... I never found a live action TV series that did a superhero well IMHO - until I found The Cape.  It was almost plausible, or to put it another way, the need for me to suspend disbelief was minimal compared to other series in the genre.

Now it's gone.  Much like Firefly.  Well, actually, Firefly was much better.  The Cape was more like a beer n pretzels type of series whereas Firefly required some investment of time and brains to fully enjoy.  Still, I miss them both.

I'm half tempted to dig out my copy of Icons and design myself a Cape character myself, but I always swore I'd never do "supers" again ;)

Mini Review - Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook

Mutants & Masterminds is the big brother of the OGL / D20 era of superhero games, and it has to be the most popular of the bunch.  The Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook is the 3rd Edition of M&M.  Somewhere in the recesses of my closet there resides a hardcover copy of M&M 1e.

It appears to me that the work on DC Adventures had a lot to do with the evolution of Mutants & Masterminds, which is to be expected, as DCA was built upon the bones of M&M 2e.  Which means I really should read the 2 books side by side and make comparisons and notes and highlights - ain't happening.  The new M&M is over 230 pages and DCU is 280 pages.  I can tell you that the abilities and the stat scores match up, so they should be fairly compatible, but going thru all with a fine tooth comb is a chore for a hard core supers guy.  I'm just here for the game.

The art is top notch and the layout is eye pleasing, which is par for the course with Green Ronin.

I see this latest edition as a move toward using more of GR's True20 system, which isn't bad at all.  It's a nice spin off from the OGL that never seemed to have gotten the attention it deserved.  Hey, maybe we'll get a Swords & Sorcery sourcebook for the new Mutants & Masterminds.  Hey, one can hope ;)

I'm not sure you would need a copy of the new M&M if you already have a copy of DCU, but you should want a copy.  It's damn purty.

From the blurb:

The Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook is the core rulebook of the game's third edition and it gives you everything you need to have your own superheroic adventures. The detailed character creation system lets you create the hero you want to play, choosing from a wide range of skills, advantages, and power effects. Customize your hero's powers with modifiers to create an almost endless range of superhuman abilities. Choose the complications your hero must overcome, earning you the hero points to achieve victory. You can also choose from one of more than a dozen heroic archetypes, customize as you like, and be ready to play in just minutes!

The streamlined system of game play requires only a single die roll and features easy to use rules. Play out an entire heroic adventure in a few short hours without long, drawn-out encounters. Plus the hero point system allows players to influence the flow of the story and pull off superheroic stunts in the best comic book tradition! Become a hero of legend with the Mutants & Masterminds Hero's Handbook!

DC Adventures - Quick Start

I know I'm overdue on the next install of the Quick Start listings I've been putting together, but I'd hate to see this one fall thru the cracks.

 

The DC Adventures Quick Start highlights the new DC Adventures game, which is built upon the Mutants and Masterminds rules, of which you can also grab a quick start for here.

DC Adventures Quick Start is a mere 9 pages (the M&M quick start is 34 pages, but who is counting?).  What I do find strange is that the new quick start uses Superboy and Smallville as its hooks... didn't we just get a Smallville RPG?

I've been waiting for a DC supers game since the old Mayfair days... now where is my Marvel Heroes RPG?

Superhero Summer

I'm amazed at the number of superhero games that are / have been / will be released this summer. 

Icons was released earlier in late spring / early summer.  Its a nice little game from the designer of Mutants and Masterminds, and offers a quick and easy method to get you Superhero fix in.

DC Adventures was just released on RPGNow yesterday, although I think there is a revision going on with the PDF file.  I got an error with Adobe Reader, but Sumatra read it fine.  It's syncing to my iPad as I type.  Nice rainy day here in the Pocono Mountains makes for great reading time. It's engine is the Mutants and Masterminds system.

The Smallville RPG landed last week.  I haven't checked it out as I don't watch the series, but I have heard  good things about the series, so I may have to check it out as I run thru the other superhero rpgs.

Then of course there is Wild Talents 2nd Edition, which I had overlooked until I noticed the current superhero explosion currently in effect.  It came out earlier this year, and I must say it looks nice.  The One Roll Engine looks interesting, tho' I'd like to see it in play  Then again, I'm a bargain hunter at hard, so the earlier Wild Talents Essential Edition for only 5 bucks is very attractive.

Feedback when I get thru some reading, although I may be running the tutorial from LotFP Weird Fantasy as a single player adventure with a DM later tonight or tomorrow.  If I do I'll post the results and review.