Sources of inspiration for a game

[Maccabe]

What comic book charcter and/or group from any source -DC, Marvel, etc - do you find most accurately represents your idea of a typical superhero HERO game source?

[kahuna's bro]

the justice society

[lapsedgamer]

For straight Bronze Age play with five or more players:

Englehart/Perez or Shooter/Perez Avengers

Claremont/ Byrne era X-Men.

Wolfman/Perez era Teen Titans.

Keith Giffen Legion

Astro City, especially anything with The Furst Family.

The Ultimates, minus some of the more adult material.

If you only have two or three players:

Classic Marvel Two-in-One and Marvel Team-Up.

Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey.

If you want to go a little darker:

DC's Suicide Squad

Villains United/The Secret Six (Gail Simone again).

Play the Ultimates as written. This would be fun, but very hard to sustain I think. You could easily swerve into Authority territory, and that way leads to madness.

[assault]

The main problem is: what is "typical"?

I'm a big Silver Age geek, but I don't think Silver Age games are all that "typical".

I think lapsedgamer came pretty close to the answer I would give, especially when he mentioned the Clairmont/Byrne X-Men and Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans. That stuff is perfect source material for a superhero game.

I'd also give an honourable mention to the Giffen/De Matteis Justice League: the interactions between the characters are probably closer to those between most PCs than those in the other books!

[Sketchpad]

For straight Bronze Age play with five or more players:

Englehart/Perez or Shooter/Perez Avengers

Claremont/ Byrne era X-Men.

Wolfman/Perez era Teen Titans.

Keith Giffen Legion

Astro City, especially anything with The Furst Family.

Johns/Benes JLA

If you only have two or three players:

Classic Marvel Two-in-One and Marvel Team-Up.

Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey.

If you want to go a little darker:

DC's Suicide Squad

Villains United/The Secret Six (Gail Simone again).

Play the Ultimates as written. This would be fun, but very hard to sustain I think. You could easily swerve into Authority territory, and that way leads to madness.

Everything Lapsed said, but subbing the JLA for The Ultimates ;)

[csyphrett]

I mostly use what the players give me to build up around them.
CES

[Greywind]

I mostly use what the players give me to build up around them.
CES
Legos and Lincoln Logs?

[kahuna's bro]

teenage mutant ninja turtles

[Bodkins Odds]

The Question, The DCAU, and various incarnations of the X-Men.

[Patriot]

The dysfunctional JLA

[Clonus]

The biggest inspiration on the first champions universe was initially the Bronze Age Avengers and brought in a lot of bronze X-Men, I'd say. The Golden Age Champs universe was more JSA inspired than Invaders. The biggest inspiration of IST was Wild Cards. The inspiration of Blood of Heroes was Image comics, but they didn't do a very good job of duplicating it. And the biggest inspiration of the current Champions universe is Astro City.

[csyphrett]

Legos and Lincoln Logs?

The last game I got together one player wanted to be a predator, one wanted to be Beast Boy, one wanted to be two characters from yu yu hakasho combined into one character, one wanted to be Cloud Strife, one wanted to be Inuyasha. They spent a lot of time dealing with invasions from Hell and outer space.
CES

[SSgt Baloo]

Golden age: Golden age Justice Society of America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Society_of_America) with a dask of The Invaders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invaders_(comics)) for flavor.

Silver Age: Silver age Justice Society of America plus some X-men and Avengers for flavor. A dash of the Batman TV series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(TV_series)) for comedy and period feel.

Bronze or Later ages: Wolverine and the X-men, with Justice League for flavor.

[lapsedgamer]

Golden age: Golden age Justice Society of America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Society_of_America) with a dask of The Invaders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invaders_(comics)) for flavor.

Silver Age: Silver age Justice Society of America plus some X-men and Avengers for flavor. A dash of the Batman TV series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(TV_series)) for comedy and period feel.

Bronze or Later ages: Wolverine and the X-men, with Justice League for flavor.

Question: Isn't the Invaders book more of a Bronze Age retelling of the Golden Age? If I had to do a Golden Age game, I would probably go that route. To me, it would be hard to do a straight up 1940s game with players with modern attitudes. I like some of the old JSA characters, but I'm not sure I could get into the full on attitude. It would have to be like the Hero approach to pulps. Take the good, leave out the bad and/or offensive.

[SSgt Baloo]

Question: Isn't the Invaders book more of a Bronze Age retelling of the Golden Age?

I did not know that, but the characters originated in the Golden Age, so I lumped them in. Sticking points for Golden Age play are the cultural norms we find repugnant today (patronising sexism and racism, antisemitism, etc.) I prefer my players to portray a more enlightened attitude to these issues than the cultural norm, and (because they're such gosh-darn good-guys) most people will deeply reconsider their opinions regarding these issues when confronted by the good examples set by the heroes. So no, my "Golden Age" isn't as tarnished as the real one was at the time.

[kahuna's bro]

well put sarge
can someone swing the reptonfa for me?

[Certified]

For Metahumans Rising I looked at trying to recapture the golden age of comics, mostly from Marvel. Although in writing the timeline for the campaign I could see it kind of evolve. Right now there are two teams one the Defenders fit into a more Avengers/X-Men mold while the general tone fits with the Bronze Age I try to keep elements from the Golden Age alive with heroes who are heroes and villains who are villains. The second team Project D fall more into the Iron Age a black ops team within a shadow agency the government doesn't publicly acknowledge. This second team was designed to make a clearer delineation of characters and themes.

For my other campaign: Heroes of the Silver Age I think the title says it all.

[assault]

I don't recall having seen any campaigns that looked much like actual Golden Age comics. They've all seemed more like they were based on modern comics set in the period.

Which is fine, because I enjoy such comics. But I still have a dream of eventually putting together something more like a 'real' Golden Age game. Maybe online.

Maybe I should stop dreaming about it, and actually do it.

[casualplayer]

Question: Isn't the Invaders book more of a Bronze Age retelling of the Golden Age? If I had to do a Golden Age game, I would probably go that route. To me, it would be hard to do a straight up 1940s game with players with modern attitudes. I like some of the old JSA characters, but I'm not sure I could get into the full on attitude. It would have to be like the Hero approach to pulps. Take the good, leave out the bad and/or offensive.

You mean you wouldn't want to play out all the guff that Amazing Man took in All-Star Squadron? Or have the female characters get punch and cookies for the men, who are doing the real work? :)

Actually for a good comic example of a HERO game, League of Champions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Champions)was pretty good.

[Greywind]

Well, one major overlooked tendency of the Golden Age, was lack of continuity. Everything was single episode. Nothing really related to any previous story.

[kahuna's bro]

would the T.H.U.N.D.E.R agents by wally wood make fora good campaign?

[GoldenAge]

All of them! :)