Starlord Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 In order: 1. M&Ms Freedom City 2. Classic Enemies 3. 5th Edition VIPER 4. Strike Force 5. 5th Edition DEMON 6. The Great Supervillain Contest 7. 4th Ed. Champions Universe 8. 5th Edition Champions Genre Book 9. Ultimate Martial Artist 10. UNTIL Super Powers Database Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever I'd be inclined to nominate Silver Age Sentinels to that list. Not only does the deluxe edition look gorgeous but it was the first supers RPG for ages to get back to actually, unapologetically being heroic. Blending the best of the Silver Age ideal and freshness with noughties sensibilities was quite an achievement, although the game does have a few flaws. Perhaps for Champions players a better nomination might be Omlevex, which aims for the same goal with more humour (and HERO stats!) albeit without the glorious colour interiors. Rats. Now you've got me itching to look through my supers games... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchellS Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever In alphabetical particular order: Classic Enemies DEMON 5E Foes of Freedom Freedom City GURPS: IST Normals Unbound San Angelo: City of Heroes Silver Age Sentinels [Deluxe Edition] Strike Force Villainy Amok Honorable Mention: Avengers: Coast to Coast Century Station Champions of the North Children of the Atom Crisis at Crusader Citadel Kingdom of Champions Super Agents The Algernon Files VIPER 5E UNTIL Superpowers Database Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpira Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever 1. Super World This is the one that started it all for me. First real campaign that I played in, first time I ran a campaign, and first exposure to rules rapists/munchkins. 2. Classic Enemies Originally picked it up for support in my Super World game. Later found out what all those numbers meant and that brings me to #3. 3. Champions 4th Edition Everything I was looking for in a game system. Fell in love with the Martial Arts system and use that as a main comparing point in most games I see now. 4. Strike Force Showed me what a campaign could become. Marriage, love, death, retirement, I found it all in the pages of that campaign book. Many of the things introduced in that book are used today. 5. Ninja Hero 1st Edition I think I actually drooled the first time I read this. 6. Kingdom of Champions Although I was not overly impressed with the Supers, I found the other information to be great. And that cover is probably still the best one that I have every seen. 7. Viper: Coils of the Serpent Viper the way I had always envisioned it (well maybe not with the big freaking snake) but I have made this an integral part of my campaign. 8. Zodiac All truth be told. It was the art,the concept and the spaceship that I liked the most out of this module. You made a smaller grade carrier before anyone ever heard of the name Authority or Warren Ellis. 9. The Day of The Destroyer My old players are still probably hurting from that one. 10. Heroes Unlimited Revised Second Edition Not my favorite system by a long run but whenever I had players that would get to munchkinnie or I needed to through something together quick for players that could not think of a characters (mainly those used to limited choices. You free them from that and sometimes their minds lock up) I would fall back on this. Of course afterwards I needed a healthy dose of Champions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever For Me: 1) Classic Enemies 2) Strike Force 3) Champions Worldwide 4) Avengers Coast to Coast (Thanks MitchellS! I played the AEF scenarios so many times it wasn't funny) 5) Millennium City 6) Freedom City 7) Century Station 8) Crisis at Crusader Citadel 9) Watchers of the Dragon 10) VIPER (5th & 4th editions Tie) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redmenace Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Not in order 1) Strike Force 2) Coriolis Force 3) Classic Enemies 4) Gurps IST 5) Golden Age Champions 6) DC Heroes WW2 Sourcebook, (sorry, can't recall the name) 7) Organization book 2, the Blood & Dr. McQuark 8) School of Hard Knocks-Gurps Supers 9) Watchers of the Dragon 10) Crisis at Crusader Citadel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Hmm ... in no particular order: Freedom City I think that Steve K has really captured the comic book city feel with this book. I'd love to see an official Hero version. Gates of What If? One of the best old MSH modules ever made. It was different and spawned some huge campaigns back in the '80s for me. Crisis at Crusader's Citadel Started playing V&V using this module and had a blast! The Blood & Dr. McQuark Though I've only used most of them in the bcakground, I've found this book to be a great read and full of great ideas Strikeforce No book has been more influential in my campaign styles than this one ... many props to Scott Bennie for allowing me to replace my copy Project Prometheus One of the more interesting DC Heroes modules, as it didn't star any DC characters. The villain group within was expanded and eventually became a foil to the PC's group. Siege Another great DC Heroes module that would be defined as a great example for epic battles. Classic Enemies Some of the best characters in Champions history collected in one place ... wish I still had my copy USPD Of all the newer Hero books, this is by far one of the best. Realms of Magic I still use this book as a definitive guide to superhero magic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterBaldy Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever For me, the list would like like this... 1) Champions (First Edition) It's not the best one ever written, but it did become for me the "measuring stick" by which all RPGs are measured. 2) Champions (5th Edition Genre Book) This book is the new "measuring stick", by which all of the HERO System genre books are measured. 3) Hudson City: The Urban Abyss This is by far the best setting book to date. Well laid out, and fantastically rich setting. Thank you Steve for such a great sourcebook. This is what setting books should be like. 4) Champions II (First Edition) This was the best sequel at the time! It had a greater, in depth study of superhero roleplaying in general. It also gave us the original base and vehicle system. 5) Dark Champions (4th Edition) The best of the 4th Edition sourcebooks...hands down!!! 6) Champions (4th Edition) This was just the complete, "real deal". It updated the HERO System, and brought things in line. It corrected many of the contradictions created by Champions II & Champions III. 7) Villians & Vigilantes (1st Edition) A really good friend of mine at the time, George Vilitis, introduced me to the world of Superhero RPGs with this game...so it still holds a sentimental place in my heart. To me it wasn't as good as it could have been, but it start things off for me. 8) Enemies (First Edition) It gave us the original "Rogues Gallery" of villians for the Champions game System. Such now classics as Genocide, Bulldozer, Shamrock, and Thunder & Lightning. 9) Champions III (First Edition) Just a great source book at the time. Gave even more information on the genre, from a roleplaying standpoint. Helped explore character development at a whole nother level...as well as campaign development as a whole. 10) Silver Age Sentinels (Tri-Stat System) I love the Tri-Stat system. The first time I was exposed to the game system was with BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth). I never got to play the game, but I do like the system...and it's not d20!!! OK there's my list, and the reasons why they made the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i3ullseye Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Hmm.... tough one...... 1) Champions 4th ed (BBB) That just opened up so much. Being able to have that book, and pick up a few copies of the 4th edition core rule book for players, has a real nostalgia for me. It really opened up more roleplaying for me and my gorups than any other book. 2) Ninja Hero Aaron Allston has done some of the finest work in the industry, and him working his magic with the HERO system was great. This empowered a lot of good games also. 3) MURPG The Marvel Univers Role Playing Game. This is the new diceless system, and it has soo much right with it. Sad that a petty squabble and a new line editor killed a game that was actually very successful in the industry. 4) MSHRP-Advanced the second boxed set for the Marvel Superheroes RPG, with the old FASERIP system. Man, you just can't beat that system for speed and simplicity. And how cool was it to play with official versions of the Marvel characters we all loved? 5) Dark Champions & An Eye for an Eye (4th edition) Mr. Long sir. Who would have ever thought that an expensive and hard earned law degree woudl benefit the gaming world so much? As a lover of street level games, these were mind blowingly good. Hard to say which i loved more as I picked both up at the same time, and my gritty games were never the same again. 6) Sidekick Yes, that Sidekick. I really like simplifying things. I really like having extra core rule books to hand out to players during a session. I LOVE that these were costed just right. I bought 2 so I have rules books for others during our games. It fits much easier into a backpack and I will often grab it to work out an NPC instead of the toolbox. 7) Mutants & Masterminds It has it's problems. It doesn't handle all levels of play equally well, and it is a very binary system... you either hit and success greatly, or miss and fail miserably. But it is a fresh take on D20, and one of the nicest print layouts I have seen in a book. Worth every penny. 8) Handbook to the Marvel universe An encylopedia of heroes and villains? Detailed backgrounds and stats on all of the marvel universe? I had this thing (4 releases, and 2 annual updates) loaded into 2 huge D ring binders. As a gamer, and a comic lover, this was a bible to us. 9) Champions I, II and III Pure nostalgia again. We played these releases so much it wasn't funny. Well, Foxbat WAS funny, and he really made these an enjoyable read. We have come a long way in our world of balance and fairness from the days when sidebars taught you the rule of 3 and 8. hehe.... 10) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Yup, good old simplified Palladium. More streamlined that Heroes Unlimited, much more streamlined than Rifts, this ganme was wodnerful when it hit. Not only were the comics hot at the time, but this game held to the originally gritty feel, not the candy the kids are fed today. The turtles used to be bad assed I tell ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Top Ten Favorite Superhero Books for the Frisbeeverse: 10. Villains & Vigilantes -- only because it was first, not because it was any good. 9. Hudson City Blues -- primarily because it became the model for how I plotted out extended story arcs, since (to date) none of my players have ever wanted to play Dark Champions (because they'd rather play Cyberpunk 2020 when they're up for my style of gritty). 8. San Angelo: City of Heroes -- for its interesting way of dancing around the hard facts about the city and its locations so players could actually personalize the information fairly easily. 7. Champions in 3-D -- which offered up a bunch of parallel earths which were both interesting and playable, and a few others which were simply cutesy or annoying (and obviously filler material). 6. Day of the Destroyer -- which really worked to point up the sorts of chaos that would break out if someone announced that 90% of the population of earth was going to die tomorrow. 5. Alien Enemies -- which has provided many adventures of great fun for both the players and myself. 4. The Wild Cards Sourcebook for GURPS -- since I can do rough conversions from that crap system to Champions, it has provided a great number of supervillain designs for my campaigns over the years. 3. DC Heroes -- which is a great system to play for those "beer-and-pretzel" game nights where everybody wants to play, but nobody wants to get serious about getting a campaign started. (Pregenerated Teen Titans make for a quick game with a minimum of fuss and its descriptions of major North American cities from the DC Universe are concise and very helpful to the GM who's looking for flavor rather than factoids.) 2. Champions -- in all of its various incarnations has a been a staple of my gaming shelf for over 20 years and has provided countless hours of fun and diversion in this otherwise mundane life. 1. Hudson City: The Urban Abyss -- because no modern city for a campaign setting has ever been taken to this level of detail. I can use as much or as little as I want to get the adventure rolling, plus it can be used for Cyberpunk settings, modern world settings and Champions as well. In short, this is ruler against which any other city setting will be compared. And that's my two cents' worth. Matt "That's-Mister-Definitive-to-you-buddy" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetle Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever I can't believe nobody's mentioned CLOWN yet! My top ten: 1. Champions 4th ed. (the BBB) - The first edition that I owned for myself. 2. Strike Force - For all the reasons listed by others. It changed the way I gamed. 3. Normals Unbound - really changed the way I viewed NPCs (and saved me more work than any other book...) 4. Pulp Hero - New winner of the "most complete sourcebook I've ever seen" title. Go buy it! 5. Dark Champions (4th edition) - Now the second most complete sourcebook I've ever seen 6. Classic Enemies - All the greats are there. 7. To Serve and Protect - A great adventure module. Too bad I loaned my copy out to somebody... 8. USPD - Mind-bogglingly useful, even for experienced players. 9. Justice, Not Law/Eye for an Eye/Underworld Enemies - 4th edition Dark Champions got all the good books 10. FREd - A needed overhaul of the system 11. Ultimate Martial Artist (5th Edition) - All the info on martial arts i could ever use (and some nice Storn art as a bonus). [was originally number 10 on the list before being bumped by Pulp Hero] The relative absence of 5th edition items shouldn't be taken as a criticism of current products. I just haven't had a chance to use them all that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Sourecebooks, rather than rulebooks.... Demon - HERO 5th. VIPER - HERO 4th Primus - Hero plus by Shelly. Algernon Files - (M&M superlink, and soon HERO system) Supertemps - GURPS Grammercy Island - Heroes Unlimited (my favorite published superprison) San Angelo - for HERO, by Gold Rush Freedom City - M&M High Tech Enemies - HERO 4th (I got a lot of use out of almost all of those villians) The Blood and Doctor McQuark - HERO 2nd (I think). I liked Strike force, but it didn't sing to me the way it did to others. it would be in my second group of ten though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted November 25, 2005 Report Share Posted November 25, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Not in order 1) Strike Force 2) Coriolis Force 3) Classic Enemies 4) Gurps IST 5) Golden Age Champions 6) DC Heroes WW2 Sourcebook, (sorry, can't recall the name) 7) Organization book 2, the Blood & Dr. McQuark 8) School of Hard Knocks-Gurps Supers 9) Watchers of the Dragon 10) Crisis at Crusader Citadel Coriolis Effect sorry, family of teachers, sometimes I can't help myself. oh, and the DC Heroes book was "Our World at War". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted November 28, 2005 Report Share Posted November 28, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Well definitely Strike Force Algenon Files Grammercy Island I'll edit this to put in others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross_winn Posted November 28, 2005 Report Share Posted November 28, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Strikeforce Champions 4th Champions 3D DC Heroes DC Heroes Watchmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdamnhero Posted November 28, 2005 Report Share Posted November 28, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever What? Not a single vote for "Foxbat Unhinged"?! bigdamnhero "You can get more with a kind word and a two-by-four than you can with just a kind word." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever What? Not a single vote for "Foxbat Unhinged"?! I used that one in my last game. It was great fun, for both the players and the GM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever What? Not a single vote for "Foxbat Unhinged"?! bigdamnhero "You can get more with a kind word and a two-by-four than you can with just a kind word." I've never actually read it ... is it good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misery Lad Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever As many have said before, no particular order... DC Heroes - Anything after the 1st edition. 1st edition definitely had some kinks to work out. By 2nd edition, though, the system ha d a much smoother flow to it and...I've said it before, I'll say it again: There are a number of things, power-wise, that Hero doesn't handle well, if at all, that DC handles quite easily. But I know of no Hero/Champions powers that are simply not playable in DC. Villains & Vigilantes - Not the first supers game I ever played but definitely the first that tried hard to get it right. I respect the game for that. Atlas Of The DC Universe - This has helped me more than any Hero games supplement in setting up capsule locales that are significant to my campaign world. Day Of The Destroyer - This one culminated in a PC having to sacrifice her life to save the planet. One of the most epic scenarios I've ever refereed and some of the reprecussions are still being felt in my world today. Champions 3-D - What to say about this one? Using the ideas presented in this book, I constructed an alternate Earth that mirrored the campaign with one important difference: The supers had seized governmental power and changed the course of history. Once the player-characters became involved, things took an incredible turn for the worst. While some of the characters escaped back to their proper Earth, the climax of the scenario resulted in the deaths of five PCs and the destruction of the world itself. Good times, good times... Champions Universe, 4th Edition version - The amount of information on the disposition of various national and international metahuman parties was more than worth the price of admission. Ninja Hero, 4th Edition version - Used so much in our campaigns, I literally wore it out and had to get a second one. It was an expansion upon the basic tenets of Hero martial arts that approached an order of magnitude. Champions 4th Edition - Big, bold and brassy! Wore out my softcover, wore out my hardcover. Had to get another hardcover and protect that one with a Dragonskin. I'm still looking for another softcover. Anyone have any ideas where I might acquire one, I'd love to hear them. Dark Champions 4th/5th Editions - I realize it's a little bit of a cheat here but I simply can't acknowledge one while neglecting the other. Mr. long has done such great jobs on both that I tend to take both with me whenever I ref away from home. Brave New World Core Book - Not even close as a favorite system but I really appreciated the attention to detail Matt Forbeck brought to the table when constructing his game world. It's given me a lot of ideas for overarching plotlines for my own game even though, sadly, it doesn't hold up very well for its own sake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Im not going to try to order them -- picking just 10 is hard enough: The Ultimate Powers Book * Chilren of the Atom * Days of Futures Present * X-Men Boxed Set * CKC # UMA # DEMON # Strike Force # VIPER CotS # Champions Battleground # * Marvel Super Heroes Advanced # Champions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdamnhero Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever What? Not a single vote for "Foxbat Unhinged"?! I've never actually read it ... is it good? I thought it was a hysterical read, `tho I never actually got to play it. bigdamnhero "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchellS Posted November 29, 2005 Report Share Posted November 29, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever Champions 4th Edition - Big' date=' bold and brassy! Wore out my softcover, wore out my hardcover. Had to get another hardcover and protect that one with a Dragonskin. I'm still looking for another softcover. Anyone have any ideas where I might acquire one, I'd love to hear them.[/quote'] You can't hardly walk through eBay without tripping over 2-3 of them. Look there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCMaenza Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Re: Top Ten All-Time 'Favorite' Superhero RPG Books Ever In no particular order: - To Serve and Protect (love Scott's art) - Champions 4th Edition - Strike Force - CLOWN (yes, I said it - I like this group enough to put them in my world. FUN!) - DC Universe Atlas - Teen Titans Sourcebook - Champions in 3-D - Dark Champions 4th Edition - Stronghold (something about Ripper on the cover...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.