My own super hero rpg system

[batguy]

How can I create my own super hero rpg system?

[Scott Ruggels]

57 minutes ago, batguy said:

How can I create my own super hero rpg system?

 

 1.) define your goals.
2.) Select your preferred method of determining probabilities.

3.) Play test it.
4.) Return to Step  one.

5.)When Play and goals  closely match, Write things out, like you are explaining it to a five year old.

6.) Send it to a friend for proof reading, and ask them to create a character in the system.

7.) If your friends like it, time to ;ay out the book and hire artists, graphic artists, and pick  fonts.

8,( Decide to Kickstart, or find a publisher to finance printing and distribution.


That all being said You7 can put things together in CHampions, to see if things will work. 

 

 

[batguy]

On 4/28/2023 at 12:29 PM, Scott Ruggels said:

 

 1.) define your goals.
2.) Select your preferred method of determining probabilities.

3.) Play test it.
4.) Return to Step  one.

5.)When Play and goals  closely match, Write things out, like you are explaining it to a five year old.

6.) Send it to a friend for proof reading, and ask them to create a character in the system.

7.) If your friends like it, time to ;ay out the book and hire artists, graphic artists, and pick  fonts.

8,( Decide to Kickstart, or find a publisher to finance printing and distribution.


That all being said You7 can put things together in CHampions, to see if things will work. 

 

 

Cool,man,how can i do all these things?

[Scott Ruggels]

Pen and paper. Write it all down.  

7 hours ago, batguy said:

Cool,man,how can i do all these things?

Brainstorm and figure out what you want and just put it on paper and organize it later when you have defined your goals.  

[assault]

There's a reason why defining your goals is step one.

 

Write them down, and organize them.

 

Defining your goals means deciding exactly what you are trying to do, what kind of superheroes you are talking about, and so on.

It's the point at which you go from Vague Idea In Your Head, to something practical written on paper.

Edited May 7, 2023 by assault

[Certified]

In addition to @Scott Ruggels great advice I might add a step 1.a that might help bring things into focus. 

 

There are a lot of great superhero games on the market. Each of them do things differently, and offer a different experience. Give as many as you can a try from Capes to Truth and Justice and see if these meet your gaming needs. If not, why not. Develop a list of things you want to see in your spandex, that you are not getting in other games, and try to identify what you can do differently to bring that experience to people. 

[batguy]

On 5/7/2023 at 6:30 PM, Scott Ruggels said:

Pen and paper. Write it all down.  

Brainstorm and figure out what you want and just put it on paper and organize it later when you have defined your goals.  

Thanks,which six attributes should i use?

[Scott Ruggels]

4 hours ago, batguy said:

Thanks,which six attributes should i use?

 

It depends on the style the  game will use and the importance of Combat, or skills, or social conflict, or psychics. generally, you have STR, DEX, AGL< for physical abilities, but to take into account Speedsters like The Flash, you need to have the ability to perform multiple attacks. HERO does this with the "SPD" attribute. Other systems allow you to Buy more attacks. Up to you.  You wil also need Mental attributes, like INT, WILL (or EGO), and WIS, and you might want FOCus. I am of the camp that doesnlt mind 8 or 10 attributes, as long as they have an effect on gamepplay and give options for attacks and Defenses.  In terms of  Defenses, You need Physical Defense, Energy Defense, Psychic Defense, and if these defenses will bounce bullets or not. (And in the relm of the Psychic, can their psychic Defense bounce Darkseid's beams?).   THis design will take a lot of thought, and testing , to figure out what all works together or not.

[Cygnia]

We can't do this for you.

[Doc Democracy]

32 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

We can't do this for you.

 

Well, we could, but it probably is not what we want to spend time doing and, even if it was, and we did create this system, by Committee, on the boards, it would not be "my own superhero rpg system".

 

Scott has given you a pretty good overview of how you might start going about it but if it is to be your system, the creativity and decisions really do need to come from you.  The boards would be an excellent place to discuss the pros and cons of system development you are considering but probably not the best place to generate that development.

[Certified]

On 5/14/2023 at 11:14 AM, batguy said:

Thanks,which six attributes should i use?

Gold - For rolls when no rules apply 
Silver - When the outcome is black and white 
Bronze - When questioning the status quo
Dark - For dissecting problems and understanding motivations 
Extreme - All the action rolls 
Cinematic - When interacting with other people socially 

 

Here's the thing though, people can come up with wildly different ideas for what attributes to use. if you are designing a game, you should think about what you believe the core elements of a character are. 

[GDShore]

Try to describe yourself, what makes you you. Then do that for friends and other family members. Then decide what males a good guy good and a bad guy bad. when you are able to do that you are more than half way to reaching your goal.

[assault]

On 5/15/2023 at 4:14 AM, batguy said:

Thanks,which six attributes should i use?

 

Why six attributes?

 

You need the attributes that matter. That doesn't necessarily involve "characteristics".

 

What distinguishes one character from another? That's what matters.

 

From your past posts, I gather you are a big DC fan. What distinguishes Batman from Superman, Aquaman, Robin, Catwoman, the Penguin, Lex Luthor or the Joker?

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by assault

[assault]

If you want to be fancy, try Action Comics #1. That gives you Superman, Zatara and Slam Bradley, who is Batman without a mask.

 

Add Captain America, the Human Torch and Namor if you want to extend your range.

[archer]

On 4/28/2023 at 9:26 AM, batguy said:

How can I create my own super hero rpg system?

 

Decide which of the existing superhero roleplaying systems you want to rip off.

 

Figure out why people liked it.

 

Figure out why people hated it.

 

Figure out why it went out of business.

 

Do the right things while avoiding the wrong things.

[GDShore]

I think archer just nailed it, when Champions came out a friend and I had begun working on a replacement for D&D, (we called it Advanced D&D his name is Dale and I go by Doug [I know hubris]) We played Champions for a while then began adapting it for "fantasy adventures", then Hero games came out with "Fantasy Hero" we took some of our work added played for 15 years. 

[batguy]

Thanks for your help and advice,guys

[Cloppy Clip]

One important question is, do you have any dreams of publishing the system, or is this for your own personal use, maybe to be shared with friends and online? Because if you're not planning on a wild commercial success, you have much more freedom to put whatever you like in your game. As long as you and your players are happy with it, the sky's the limit and there's not really a wrong way to go about things.

[batguy]

48 minutes ago, Cloppy Clip said:

One important question is, do you have any dreams of publishing the system, or is this for your own personal use, maybe to be shared with friends and online? Because if you're not planning on a wild commercial success, you have much more freedom to put whatever you like in your game. As long as you and your players are happy with it, the sky's the limit and there's not really a wrong way to go about things.

This is for my own personal use only

[Cloppy Clip]

Then you're free to play around as much as you like, which takes a lot of pressure off. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'd recommend looking at different RPGs to get an idea of what you like and don't like about different mechanics. Since you're on this forum, you can probably use HERO as a base for your game if you like, but there's a lot of great ideas in other games, and not just superhero ones, if you're able to go looking for them. If you do go for a points-based approach like HERO, though, I'd say you want to get an idea for what a point is worth early on, since you can use that to guess what different powers should be worth as you go on. For HERO, it's based on 5 points equals 1d6, or one doubling, so if you were designing HERO from scratch and you had a new power idea, you could use that as a guideline for what 5 points of this power should get you.

 

Like I said, I'm not an expert at all, but there's a lot of fun to be had in creating your own RPG. Please let us know what developments you make!

[Duke Bushido]

Keep it simple:

 

Two characteristics:

 

Affect

Resist

 

 

Go nuts with it.

 

 

[batguy]

14 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Keep it simple:

 

Two characteristics:

 

Affect

Resist

 

 

Go nuts with it.

 

 

Thanks,I think I should do my own dc/marvel crossover rpg

Edited May 26, 2023 by batguy

[Doc Democracy]

5 minutes ago, batguy said:

Thanks,I think I should do my own dc/marvel crossover rpg

 

I think Marvel/DC is the skin you stretch over the framework of rules you might choose to stretch over it.  Neither Marvel nor DC require any particular mechanics, they simply provide the colour and the direction your characters will take.

 

Your first decision has to be how the game plays, if you know it is going to be high power and involve lots of fighting then you need to think how complex your game is going to be, how much you are looking to simulate the characters or whether it will be more narratively driven.

 

It is actually quite difficult to come up with something that is novel and so you are usually best looking at a system that is close to what you want to play, take it apart a bit, throw some bits away, add the things you want and then try to smooth over the edges....

 

What superhero RPGs have you played, what is your favourite and why??  If you can answer those questions you are getting closer to beginning your journey.

[batguy]

my favorite super hero rpg is marvel super heroes,because it has an easy system.i have never played any super hero rpgs before.

[Word Sensei 515]

            If you've got character generation, expandable into various characters for a Super Hero RPG, then you've got a good start.

Before leaking anything, publish it in some 'bare bones' fashion, like 1st edition CHAMPIONS, Villains & Vigilantes or Superworld, but in one book.

           There's a game called 'White Hack', with minimalist design & distressed coloring but no artwork. The art is in the system, a 'deconstruction' of a fantasy game, it might be a little less than those bigger books going for $50, but it's a professional series with a few editions by a single author, may that inspire & encourage you.

            Use that, early CHAMPIONS, Superworld & Villains & Vigilantes for inspiration & encouragement.

Everything else can be off-loaded unto future supplements. Dream big but start small, that's better than not at all.