A History of Super Hero RPGs, with Recommendation

Fans of superhero role-playing games might remember the Marvel Role-Playing Game, which came out in the mid-eighties. Marvel RPG was the granddaddy of the genre for me, although some of the earlier systems might pre-date it. Marvel had a d100 dice system, with a colorful chart on the back of each book for resolving conflicts within the game. It came with cool bits and maps and was easy to play. Around that time, the DC Super-Hero RPG came out. The DC system was math heavy and had a steep learning curve to master. However, in small pieces it worked well. Besides, just being able to play a game as Batman made up for any flaws.

There were many lesser known games out there way back when. Heroes System RPG was a highly complicated game that was too hard to play. I think Iron Crown Enterprises released it. GURPS Supers was another release; unfortunately I only played it once.

For the past decade or less, superhero role-playing games have been in a kind of limbo, as superhero game developers have started to rely on unconventional (or dice-less) rules for their games. Marvel Heroes had both a card game, as well as a diceless game which utilized prediction and power management instead of dice. The rocketing popularity or collectible card games also caused a drought of good pen and paper games. One could argue that card games had weakened RPGs until Wizards of the Coast, having bought TSR, released the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition. D D3E;, as it was called, had a slick “d20” rules system that was easy and efficient. The new Dungeons and Dragons seemed to be influenced by the computerized role playing games, which had been gaining popularity, with its emphasis on modifiers and modular bonuses.

The new D20 rules system that Wizards of the Coast created was released as open source, meaning that other companies could use the basics of the rules for their own games or expansions. This has had a strong effect on pen and paper RPGs into the present day.

If you’re disappointed with the current state of Super Hero RPGs, or are just looking for something new, then Mutants and Masterminds is a fresh take on the genre. Mutants and Masterminds is a pen and paper role playing game where the players are heroes or villains with super-powers. It is published by Green Ronin.

Although the game came out in 2002, I only found out about it recently. Although I may not have played Mutants and Masterminds yet, I’ve seen most of the super-hero games out there, and it’s good to see a super hero RPG that uses dice again. Mutants and Masterminds uses the Open Gaming License, which is the basis of the D20 system. This means that if you’ve already played a D20 game, you more or less know how to play this one.

Making characters for the game is easy, and Green Ronin has trimmed the fat off the D20 system. This means that you spend more time choosing your powers and abilities, instead of looking through the book to see how this feat works with this class and level, etc.

I only have the first edition, which is nice and thin. Nowadays, I’m lucky if I get to play an RPG at all, so I’ve been shying away from those thick books that take months to read and understand. Since Mutants and Masterminds is so lightweight, you may be lost if this is your first RPG. Make no mistake; there is no “What is a Role-Playing Game” section. Also, the first edition cost a hefty $32.85. That’s a lot of money for a thin book, but between inflation and the full-color pages crammed with art, it’s not too much to pay. Besides, it’s an older game and if you’re lucky, you might find it for half price, like I did.